A new research about the meaning of Frank and Alemanni (German) according to Norse myths

Frank: Frey (god of friendship)+PIE root *ang-/*ank- “to bend”: Those who are dependent on God Frey. Because Frey’s abode has been Elvheim (France and Germany), and Elves/Alver (all-ver, all-man) and Alemani (all-man) and German are synonyms.

According to Snorre’s Edda, there are light elves (ljósálfar) who live in the sky and are fairer than the sun (fair-haired Alemanni and Franks), and dark elves (døkkálfar) who live down in the earth and are blacker than pitch. Later in the same work, Svartálfaheimr and svartálfar are spoken of in a way that makes it likely that Snorri means by black elves, the black-haired Franks and Alemanni.

If the name Frank have meant “the free men” they could be called Frimen not Frank.

According to historical sources, the Franks shared a special dedication to the worship of Yngvi, synonym to Frey, whose cult can still be discerned in the time of Clovis.

The theonyms Frigg (Old Norse), Frīja (Old High German), Frīg (Old English), Frīa (Old Frisian), and Frī (Old Saxon) are cognates (linguistic siblings from the same origin). They stem from the Proto-Germanic feminine noun *Frijjō, which emerged as a substantivized form of the adjective *frijaz (‘free’) via Holtzmann’s law. In a clan-based societal system, the meaning ‘free’ arose from the meaning ‘related’. The name is indeed etymologically close to the Sanskrit priyā and the Avestan fryā (‘own, dear, beloved’), all ultimately descending from the Proto-Indo-European stem *priH-o-, denoting ‘one’s own, beloved’. The Proto-Germanic verb *frijōnan (‘to love’), as well as the nouns *frijōndz (‘friend’) and *frijađwō (‘friendship, peace’), are also related.

Current opinion about the name Frank:

c. 1300, “free, liberal, generous;” 1540s, “outspoken,” from Old French franc “free (not servile); without hindrance, exempt from; sincere, genuine, open, gracious, generous; worthy, noble, illustrious” (12c.), from Medieval Latin francus “free, at liberty, exempt from service,” as a noun, “a freeman, a Frank” (see Frank).

Frank, literally, free; the freedom may be in regard to one’s own opinions, which is the same as openness, or in regard to things belonging to others, where the freedom may go so far as to be unpleasant, or it may disregard conventional ideas as to reticence. Hence, while openness is consistent with timidity, frankness implies some degree of boldness. [Century Dictionary]

A generalization of the tribal name; the connection is that Franks, as the conquering class, alone had the status of freemen in a world that knew only free, captive, or slave. For sense connection of “being one of the nation” and “free,” compare Latin liber “free,” from the same root as German Leute “nation, people” (see liberal (adj.)) and Slavic “free” words (Old Church Slavonic svobodi, Polish swobodny, Serbo-Croatian slobodan) which are cognates of the first element in English sibling “brother, sister” (in Old English used more generally: “relative, kinsman”). For the later sense development, compare ingenuity.

In the name of Frej-worshipping Swedes, the name Sven has also been interpreted as young (yngve) kinsman.

Current opinion about the name Alemanni:

name of a Germanic tribe or confederation from the Elbe River region that in late Roman times settled along the upper Rhine in Alsace and part of Switzerland, from Proto-Germanic *Alamanniz, probably meaning “all-man” (see all + man (n.)) and likely denoting a coalition or alliance of tribes rather than a single group.