Markey Thomas L. Frisian

De Gruyter Mouton, 1980. — 336 p. — (Trends in Linguistics. State-of-the-Art Reports 13).The Frisians (Frisii, Frisiavones) are first mentioned in recorded history in the description of Belgica by Pliny (Nat. Hist. IV, 101), who states that they are one of a group of tribes inhabiting the area around the mouths of the Rhine who were defeated by Drusus in 12 B.C. This geographical location is confirmed by Tacitus (Germ. XXXIV, 2; Ann. II, 8), who adds that they were conquered by the Romans. Ptolemy (Geographica, II, 11, 7) gives the Ems as the eastern border of the Frisians, or Fris(s)ioi as he calls them. The name Frisii, reshaped as Frisiavones on the model of Celtic tribal names cited by classical authors, presumably derives from a Germanic ;a-stem *fris-ja-, which, with an -extension, is first attested in the form Frisiones in 241-2 A.D. From the e-gra.de formant fres- are derived OE Fresan, OHG Frieson. The further etymology of this tribal name is, however, a much debated matter,(cf. KÜHN 1963a and infra). According to Tacitus there were the Frisii minores and the Frisii matures, perhaps in reference to groups east and west of the Ijsselmeer (Zuider Zee).