Sueven.

Etymology: Partly (in α. forms) < classical Latin Suēvus (usually in plural, Suēvī) member of any of a group of Germanic peoples located east of the rivers Rhine, Danube, and Elbe; and partly (in β. forms) < classical Latin Suēbus, variant of Suēvus (see note). Compare Suevi n.Compare Middle French, French Sueue , Sueve (1556 or earlier), and Hellenistic Greek Σουῆβοι . While Latin Suēbus is the form supported by inscriptions, most manuscripts have the form Suēvus . In Middle English and early modern English, Sweue , Sueue , and Swevia are also found denoting the territory of the Suevi or (with reference to later events) Swabia. (Sueve is also sometimes found denoting the Swabians in early modern English.) Compare post-classical Latin Suevus (noun) Swabian (10th cent. or earlier, with reference to the medieval Duchy). Old English ethnonym. Compare the Old English ethnonym Swǣfe , Swǣfas (both plural), with reference to the Suevi, Alamanni, or Swabians, apparently cognate with Old High German Swābo (compare also the post-classical Latin variant Suaevi , plural). Compare Suuafham , Cambridgeshire (1086, now Swaffham), Suafham , Norfolk (1086, now Swaffham), early place names that apparently contain this ethnonym as first element. There is probably no continuity with the Middle English α. forms.