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Alamanni

[al-uh-man-ahy]
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plural noun
  1. Alemanni.

Alemanni

or Al·a·man·ni

[al-uh-man-ahy]
noun (used with a plural verb)
  1. a confederation of Germanic tribes, first recorded in the 3rd century a.d., that settled in the area between the Rhine, Main, and Danube rivers, and made harassing attacks against the Roman Empire.

Origin of Alemanni

< Latin, of Germanic orig.; cognate with Gothic alamans totality of humankind, equivalent to ala- all (see almighty) + mann- man1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for alamanni

Historical Examples

  • The Franks recovered from their panic, the Alamanni turned to flight.

    Theodoric the Goth

    Thomas Hodgkin

  • And as soon as he had cried thus, the Alamanni turned and fled.

  • Like most heathen people the Alamanni clothed their gods in their own flesh and blood.

  • The Alamanni were defeated, and fled to the Mœotian marshes.

    Teutonic Mythology, Vol. 1 of 3

    Viktor Rydberg, Ph.D.

  • The Bavarian law, therefore, is later than that of the Alamanni.

British Dictionary definitions for alamanni

Alemanni

noun
  1. a West Germanic people who settled in the 4th century ad between the Rhine, the Main, and the Danube

Word Origin

C18: from Latin, of Germanic origin; related to Gothic alamans a totality of people
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for alamanni

Alemanni

name of a Suebic tribe or confederation that settled in Alsace and part of Switzerland (and source of French Allemand "German, a German"), from Proto-Germanic *Alamanniz, probably meaning "all-man" and denoting a wide alliance of tribes, but perhaps meaning "foreign men" (cf. Allobroges, name of a Celtic tribe in what is now Savoy, in Latin literally "the aliens," in reference to their having driven out the original inhabitants), in which case the al- is cognate with the first element in Latin alius "the other" and English else.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper