World Library  
My Account |  Register |  Help  
  
Flag as Inappropriate
Email this Article

Sippe

Article Id: WHEBN0004517751
Reproduction Date:

Title: Sippe  
Author: World Heritage Encyclopedia
Language: English
Subject: Feudalism in the Holy Roman Empire, Sib (anthropology), Germanic law, Sibbe, Grinzing
Collection: Ancient Germanic Families, Clans by Nation, Germanic Law
Publisher: World Heritage Encyclopedia
Publication
Date:
 

Sippe

Sippe is German for "clan, kindred, extended family". It continues a Proto-Germanic term *sibbja, which referred to a band or confederation bound by a treaty or oath, not primarily restricted to blood relations.[1] The original character of sibb as a peace treaty is visible in Old English, e.g. in Beowulf (v. 1858):[1]

hafast þû gefêred, þæt þâm folcum sceal,
Geáta leódum ond Gâr-Denum
sib gemæne ond sacu restan.

The Sippe came to be a cognatic,[2] extended family unit, exactly analogous to the Scottish/Irish sept.[3]

Most of the information left about the nature and role of the Sippe is found in records left by the Lombards, Alamanni, and Bavarians.[4] One of the functions of the Sippe was regulating use of forests. The average Sippe likely contained no more than 50 families.[5] The Sippe seems to have been absorbed into the monogamous family later on; P.D. King asserts that this was already the case among the Visigoths during the time of the Visigothic Kingdom.[6]

See also

Languages
Prehistory
Roman Iron Age
Migration Period
Society and culture
Religion
Dress
Warfare
Burial practices

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Grimm: pax, foedus, affinitas, propinquitas
  2. ^ David Herlihy, Medieval Households (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985), 47
  3. ^ Herlihy, 32, 44, 51
  4. ^ Herlihy, 45.
  5. ^ Herlihy, 47.
  6. ^ P.D. King, Law and Society in the Visigothic Kingdom, Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, 3rd ser. 5 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972), 233.
This article was sourced from Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. World Heritage Encyclopedia content is assembled from numerous content providers, Open Access Publishing, and in compliance with The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., Public Library of Science, The Encyclopedia of Life, Open Book Publishers (OBP), PubMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and USA.gov, which sources content from all federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government publication portals (.gov, .mil, .edu). Funding for USA.gov and content contributors is made possible from the U.S. Congress, E-Government Act of 2002.
 
Crowd sourced content that is contributed to World Heritage Encyclopedia is peer reviewed and edited by our editorial staff to ensure quality scholarly research articles.
 
By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. World Heritage Encyclopedia™ is a registered trademark of the World Public Library Association, a non-profit organization.
 


Copyright © World Library Foundation. All rights reserved. eBooks from Project Gutenberg are sponsored by the World Library Foundation,
a 501c(4) Member's Support Non-Profit Organization, and is NOT affiliated with any governmental agency or department.