Frankish language in the context of "Franks"

French (français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-Romance, a descendant of the Latin spoken in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French (Francien) largely supplanted. It was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul and by the Germanic Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, it was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia, and numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole, were developed. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.

French is an official language in 26 countries, as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in the world, with speakers in about 50 countries. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share the use or teaching of French. It is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 74 million are native speakers; it is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France, Canada (Quebec), Belgium (Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region), western Switzerland (Romandy region), parts of Luxembourg, and Monaco. Meanwhile in Francophone Africa it is spoken mainly as a second language or lingua franca, though it has also become a native language in a small number of urban areas; in some North African countries like Algeria, despite not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside the indigenous ones, but only a second one among the general population.

The Merovingian dynasty (/ˌmɛrəˈvɪndʒiən/) was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gallo-Romans under their rule. They conquered most of Gaul, defeating the Visigoths (507) and the Burgundians (534), and also extended their rule into Raetia (537). In Germania, the Alemanni, Bavarii and Saxons accepted their lordship. The Merovingian realm was the largest and most powerful of the states of western Europe following the breakup of the empire of Theodoric the Great.

The dynastic name, medieval Latin Merovingi or Merohingii ("sons of Merovech"), derives from an unattested Frankish form, akin to the attested Old English Merewīowing, with the final -ing being a typical Germanic patronymic suffix. The name derives from Salian King Merovech, who is at the center of many legends. Unlike the Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies, the Merovingians never claimed descent from a god, nor is there evidence that they were regarded as sacred.

Lothair I (9th. C. Frankish: Ludher and Medieval Latin: Lodharius; Dutch and Medieval Latin: Lotharius; German: Lothar; French: Lothaire; Italian: Lotario; 795 – 29 September 855) was a 9th-century Emperor of the Carolingian Empire (817–855, with his father until 840) and King of Italy (818–855) and Middle Francia (843–855).

Lothair I was the eldest son of the Carolingian emperor Louis I and his wife Ermengarde of Hesbaye, daughter of Ingerman the duke of Hesbaye. On several occasions, Lothair led his full-brothers Pepin I of Aquitaine and Louis the German in revolt against their father to protest against attempts to make their half-brother Charles the Bald a co-heir to the Frankish domains. Upon the father's death, Charles and Louis joined forces against Lothair in a three-year dynastic war (840–843). The struggles between the brothers led directly to the breakup of the Frankish Empire assembled by their grandfather Charlemagne, and laid the foundation for the development of modern France and Germany.

Weser–Rhine Germanic languages (or Rhine–Weser Germanic, German: Rheinweser-germanisch), sometimes also referred to as Istvaeonic languages, are a proposed Frank-related subgroup of the West Germanic languages which would in terms of modern languages unite both West Central German dialects and Low Franconian dialects including standard Dutch.

According to original versions of this proposal, introduced by the German linguist Friedrich Maurer (1898-1984), this subgroup descends from a distinct Frankish language, while the related ancestral languages of the so called Elbe Germanic dialects to the south, and North Sea Germanic languages to the north, only subsequently became smoothly connected within the same dialect continuum. Maurer's proposals were influenced not only by linguistic evidence, but also by the Germanic archaeological provinces defined by Raphael von Uslar in 1938, which include the so called Rhine-Weser Germanic peoples, and by early Roman era reports of the Istvaeones – a group of Germanic peoples which lived near the River Rhine, and understood themselve to share a distinct common ancestry, according to their descriptions by Tacitus and Pliny the Elder.

In linguistics, Old Dutch (Modern Dutch: Oudnederlands) or Old Low Franconian (Modern Dutch: Oudnederfrankisch) is the set of dialects that evolved from Frankish spoken in the Low Countries during the Early Middle Ages, from around the 6th to the 12th century. Old Dutch is mostly recorded on fragmentary relics, and words have been reconstructed from Middle Dutch and Old Dutch loanwords in French.

Old Dutch is regarded as the primary stage in the development of a separate Dutch language. It was spoken by the descendants of the Salian Franks who occupied what is now the southern Netherlands, northern Belgium, part of northern France, and parts of the Lower Rhine regions of Germany. It evolved into Middle Dutch around the 12th century. The inhabitants of northern Dutch provinces, including Groningen, Friesland, and the coast of North Holland, spoke Old Frisian, and some in the east (Achterhoek, Overijssel, and Drenthe) instead spoke Old Saxon.

Allod, deriving from Frankish alōd meaning "full ownership" (from al "full, whole" and ōd "property, possession"; Medieval Latin allod or allodium), also known as allodial land or proprietary property, was, in medieval and early modern European feudal law, a form of property ownership where the owner had full and absolute title. The allodial landowner, also known as an allodiary or hereditary lord, had the right to alienate the property, which was almost always land, a city plot, or an estate, and owed no feudal duties to any other person in respect of it.

Franconian or Frankish is a collective term traditionally used by linguists to refer to many West Germanic languages, some of which are spoken in what formed the historical core area of Francia during the Early Middle Ages.

Linguistically, it has no common typological features for all the various dialects conventionally grouped as Franconian. As such, it forms a residual category within the larger historical West Germanic dialect continuum and not a homogeneous group of closely related dialects. For most of the varieties grouped under the term "Franconian", the diachronical connection to the Frankish language, which was spoken by the Franks, is unclear.

Camerlengo (plural: camerlenghi, Italian for "chamberlain") is an Italian title of medieval origin. It derives from the late Latin camarlingus, in turn coming through the Frankish kamerling, from the Latin camerarius which meant "chamber officer" (generally meaning "treasure chamber").

The Franks (Latin: Franci or gens Francorum; German: Franken; French: Francs) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which was the most northerly province of the Roman Empire in continental Europe. The original Frankish language was West Germanic. These Frankish tribes lived for centuries under varying degrees of Roman hegemony and influence, but after the collapse of Roman institutions in western Europe, they took control of a large empire including areas that had been ruled by Rome, and what it meant to be a Frank began to evolve. Once they were deeply established in Gaul, the Franks became a multilingual, Catholic Christian people, who subsequently came to rule over several other post-Roman kingdoms both inside and outside the old empire. In a broader sense, much of the population of western Europe could eventually be described as Franks in some contexts.

The term "Frank" itself first appeared in the 3rd century AD, during the crisis of the 3rd century – a period when Rome lost control of regions near the lower Rhine. In the 4th century, Roman authors also began to use another new collective term for enemy tribes in the lower Rhine, "Saxons". Although the Saxons and Franks were later more clearly distinguished, there are signs that the terms Frank and Saxon were not always mutually exclusive at first. Over centuries, the Romans recruited large numbers of Frankish soldiers, some of whom achieved high imperial rank. Already in the 4th century, Franks were living semi-independently in parts of Germania Inferior. The Roman administration of Britain and northern Gaul once again began to break down, and in about 406 it was the Franks who attempted to defend the Roman border when it was crossed by Alans and Vandals from eastern Europe. Frankish kings subsequently divided up Germania Inferior between them, and at least one, Chlodio, also began to rule more Romanized populations to the south, in what is now northern France. In 451, Frankish groups participated on both sides in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, where Attila and his allies were defeated by a Roman-led alliance of various peoples established in Gaul.

The Franks (Latin: Franci or gens Francorum; German: Franken; French: Francs) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which was the most northerly province of the Roman Empire in continental Europe. The original Frankish language was West Germanic. These Frankish tribes lived for centuries under varying degrees of Roman hegemony and influence, but after the collapse of Roman institutions in western Europe, they took control of a large empire including areas that had been ruled by Rome, and what it meant to be a Frank began to evolve. Once they were deeply established in Gaul, the Franks became a multilingual, Catholic Christian people, who subsequently came to rule over several other post-Roman kingdoms both inside and outside the old empire. In a broader sense, much of the population of western Europe could eventually be described as Franks in some contexts.

The term Frank itself first appeared in the 3rd century AD, during the crisis of the 3rd century – a period when Rome lost control of regions near the lower Rhine. In the 4th century, Roman authors also began to use another new collective term for enemy tribes in the lower Rhine, "Saxons". Although the Saxons and Franks were later more clearly distinguished, there are signs that the terms Frank and Saxon were not always mutually exclusive at first. Over centuries, the Romans recruited large numbers of Frankish soldiers, some of whom achieved high imperial rank. Already in the 4th century, Franks were living semi-independently in parts of Germania Inferior. The Roman administration of Britain and northern Gaul once again began to break down, and in about 406 it was the Franks who attempted to defend the Roman border when it was crossed by Alans and Vandals from eastern Europe. Frankish kings subsequently divided up Germania Inferior between them, and at least one, Chlodio, also began to rule more Romanized populations to the south, in what is now northern France. In 451, Frankish groups participated on both sides in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, where Attila and his allies were defeated by a Roman-led alliance of various peoples established in Gaul.