Suevian

[ swey-vee-uhn ]

noun

1. a member of an ancient Germanic people of uncertain origin, mentioned in the writings of Caesar and Tacitus.
2. a member of a Germanic people that invaded France and Spain in the 5th century a.d.

adjective

1. of or relating to the Suevians.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Suevian¹

1610–20; < Latin Suēb ( ī ), Suēv ( ī ) (of Germanic originally; compare German Schwaben, Old English Swǣfe ) + -ian

Example Sentences

The Catholics everywhere preferred either Roman, Suevian or Frankish rule to that of the heretical Goths; even the unconquerable mountaineers of Cantabria seem for a while to have received a Frankish governor.

From Project Gutenberg

He reunited the Gaulish and Spanish parts of the kingdom which had been parted for a moment; he united the Suevian dominion to his own; he overcame some of the independent districts, and won back part of the recovered Roman province in southern Spain.

From Project Gutenberg

The Suevian king, Recchiarus, became a Catholic, at the persuasion of Sabinus, Bishop of Seville, in the year 448.

From Project Gutenberg

After an independent subsistence of nearly 200 years, the Suevian kingdom was annexed to the Visigothic dominions under Leovigild in 585.

From Project Gutenberg

When, in B. C. 58, C�sar offered battle daily to Ariovistus, the Suevian king who had broken into Gaul and installed himself there, the latter, though a fierce and heroic warrior, did not accept it.

From Project Gutenberg