ALAMANNI or ALLEMANNI, a German people first mentioned by Dio Cassius. They dwelt in the basin of the Maine, to the south of the Chatti (q.v.). They were a conglomeration of various tribes. The Hermunduri formed the preponderating element, and there were among the others the Iuthungi, Bucin obantes and Lentienses. From the 4th century A.D. onwards we hear also of the Suebi (q.v.) or Suabi. The Hermunduri be longed to the Suebi, but reinforcements from new Suebic tribes now moved westward. In later times the names Alamanni and Suebi seem to be synonymous. They were continually engaged in conflicts with the Romans, the most famous encounter being that at Strassburg, in which they were defeated by Julian (A.D. 357). Early in the 5th century the Alamanni crossed the Rhine and conquered and settled Alsace and a large part of Switzer land. In A.D. 495 they were conquered by Clovis, from which time they formed part of the Frankish dominions. The Alaman nic and Swabian dialects survive in Swiss dialects, and in parts of South Germany, particularly Baden and Wurttemburg and also parts of Alsace.
See Dio Cassius lxvii. et seq.; Ammianus Marcellinus, passim; Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum, book ii. ; O. Bremer in H. Paul, Grundriss der germanischen Philologie (end ed., Strasbourg, 'goo), vol. iii. pp. 93o et seq.