the name given by the Romans to a large section of the people of ancient Germany. The meaning of the name is unknown; and it cannot be determined, with any approach to certainty, whether it is of Teutonic, Celtic, or Slavonian origin. A similar obscurity hangs over the people themselves. According to the accounts of Caesar, they dwelt on the east bank of the Rhine, about the modern Baden; but Tacitus places them further to the northeast; and Strabo asserts, that in his time they occupied the country between the Rhine and the Elbe, and even stretched beyond the latter river. The name was probably a general one, including many distinct tribes, such as the Semnones, Longobardi, Chatti, &c.; and as Germany became better known to the Romans, the general appellation was dropped, and the several tribes designated by their particular names. Towards the end of the third century we find the name again restricted to the district to which Cesar applied it; and from this use of the term has come the modern Suebia, Swabians, &c.