Frisii

Frisii pl (plural only)

1. (historical) A tribe of Northern Germany who dwelt between the rivers Rhine and Ems.

Possibly named for their curly hair, from Proto-Germanic *frisaz (“curly, frizzy”), which might possibly be from Proto-Indo-European *prews-, which Pokorny says means to burn as well as to freeze (see Sanskrit प्लोषति (ploṣati)). If valid, this could derive from the warping of objects under temperature extremes.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈfriː.si.iː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈfriː.s̬i.i]

Frīsiī m pl (genitive Frīsiōrum); second declension

1. A tribe of Northern Germany who dwelt between the rivers Rhine and Ems.
   • 1772, Finnur Jónsson, chapter 1, in Historia Ecclesiastica Islandiæ [The Ecclesiastical History of Iceland]‎^[1], volume 1, Copenhagen: Orphanotrophius Regii, section 4, page 3:

     Ex exoticis Scriptoribus ſolum tantum adducemus GEORGIUM HORNIUM, qvi, Islandiam ante Norvegos variis gentibus freqventatam fuiſſe, certa indicia eſſe dicit, Krantzium teſtem adducens, qvod poſt ſubactam ab Hengiſto Britanniam Friſii in Islandia conſederint.

     [ex exōticīs Scrīptōribus sōlum tantum addūcēmus Geōrgium Hornium, quī, Īslandiam ante Norvegōs variīs gentibus frequentātam fuisse, certa indicia esse dīcit, Krantzium testem addūcēns, quod post subāctam ab Hengistō Britanniam Frīsiī in Īslandiā cōnsēderint.]

     From foreign writers we shall bring forward only Georg Horn, who says there are certain signs that Iceland was frequented by various nations before the Norwegians, citing Krantz as a witness to the fact that after Britain was subdued by Hengist, the Frisians settled in Iceland.

Second-declension noun, plural only.

• “Frisii”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “Frisii”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “Frisii”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
• Markey, Thomas L. (1981): Frisians