Pontic Steppe Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Pontic Steppe Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe South Asia Steppe Europe Caucasus India Indo-Aryans Iranians Nuristanis East Asia Europe East Asia Europe Indo-Aryan Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Others European Sippe is German for "clan, kindred, extended family" (Frisian Sibbe, Norse Sifjar).
It continues a Proto-Germanic term *sebjō, which referred to a band or confederation bound by a treaty or oath, not primarily restricted to blood relations.
[1] The original character of sippe as a peace treaty is visible in Old English, e.g. in Beowulf (v. 1858): The Sippe came to be a cognatic,[2] extended family unit, exactly analogous to the Scottish/Irish sept.[3] Most of the information left about the nature and role of the Sippe is found in records left by the Lombards, Alamanni, and Bavarians.
[4] One of the functions of the Sippe was regulating use of forests.
The average Sippe likely contained no more than 50 families.