Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • A Frankish ruling dynasty (c. AD 450–751) founded by Merovech (fl. fifth century) and brought to prominence by Clovis I.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Taking name from Merowig or Merwig (Latin Merovæus), an alleged chief or king of a part of the Salian Franks and grandfather of
  • noun A member of the family to which the first dynasty of French kings belonged. See I.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to the first Frankish dynasty in Gaul or France.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun One of a Salian Frankish dynasty that came to rule the Franks in a region (known as Francia in Latin) largely corresponding to ancient Gaul from the middle of the 5th century, and whose politics involved frequent civil warfare among branches of the family.
  • adjective of or relating to this dynasty

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a member of the Merovingian dynasty
  • adjective of or relating to the Merovingian dynasty or its members
  • noun a Frankish dynasty founded by Clovis I that reigned in Gaul and Germany from about 500 to 750

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French mérovingien.

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Examples

  • Brown follows Margaret Starbird in deriving the dynastic name Merovingian from the French "mer" for sea and "vigne" for vine.

    Dan Brown's statement to the court tells us how little he knows 2006

  • Abbé Hoffet was then very alert despite his eighty years, and all his life he had attempted to establish a legitimate line of descent of Dagobert II, the saint, that is to say a Merovingian line down to our day.

    The Sion Revelation Lynn Picknett 2006

  • Abbé Hoffet was then very alert despite his eighty years, and all his life he had attempted to establish a legitimate line of descent of Dagobert II, the saint, that is to say a Merovingian line down to our day.

    The Sion Revelation Lynn Picknett 2006

  • Abbé Hoffet was then very alert despite his eighty years, and all his life he had attempted to establish a legitimate line of descent of Dagobert II, the saint, that is to say a Merovingian line down to our day.

    The Sion Revelation Lynn Picknett 2006

  • Presumably the gold could have been identified as Merovingian by trace element analysis – gold from different sources contains slightly different trace quantities of other metals, which can be measured by mass spectrometry and other techniques – though this isn’t specified in the press reports.

    ‘Anglo-Saxon’ cemetery discovered in Yorkshire Carla 2007

  • Presumably the gold could have been identified as Merovingian by trace element analysis – gold from different sources contains slightly different trace quantities of other metals, which can be measured by mass spectrometry and other techniques – though this isn’t specified in the press reports.

    Archive 2007-11-01 Carla 2007

  • WhileThe Matrix ’s sacred city of “Zion”/Sion is not unique to Priory lore, it is hard to find another source for the character called the Merovingian.

    The Sion Revelation Lynn Picknett 2006

  • He and a few friends had founded a so-called Merovingian Party, which advocated, by means of posters and pamphlets, the return of Chilperic’s descendants to the throne.

    The Sion Revelation Lynn Picknett 2006

  • WhileThe Matrix ’s sacred city of “Zion”/Sion is not unique to Priory lore, it is hard to find another source for the character called the Merovingian.

    The Sion Revelation Lynn Picknett 2006

  • He and a few friends had founded a so-called Merovingian Party, which advocated, by means of posters and pamphlets, the return of Chilperic’s descendants to the throne.

    The Sion Revelation Lynn Picknett 2006

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