Sippe is German for "clan, kindred, extended family". It continues a Proto-Germanic term *sibbja, which referred to a band or confederation bound by a treaty or oath, not primarily restricted to blood relations. The original character of sibb as a peace treaty is visible in Old English, e.g. in Beowulf (v. 1858):
The Sippe came to be a cognatic, extended family unit, exactly analogous to the Scottish/Irish sept.
Most of the information left about the nature and role of the Sippe is found in records left by the Lombards, Alamanni, and Bavarians. One of the functions of the Sippe was regulating use of forests. The average Sippe likely contained no more than 50 families. The Sippe seems to have been absorbed into the monogamous family later on; P.D. King asserts that this was already the case among the Visigoths during the time of the Visigothic Kingdom.
Waltraud Meier (born 9 January 1956 in Würzburg) is a Grammy Award–winning German dramatic soprano and mezzo-soprano singer. She is particularly known for her Wagnerian roles as Kundry, Isolde, Ortrud, Venus and Sieglinde, but has also had success in the French and Italian repertoire appearing as Eboli, Amneris, Carmen and Santuzza. She resides in Munich.
Meier has performed in the world's famed opera houses (including La Scala, Covent Garden, Metropolitan Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Colón Theater). She has performed under the batons of conductors including Riccardo Muti, Daniel Barenboim, Claudio Abbado, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, and Giuseppe Sinopoli. She has been named a "Kammersängerin" by both the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and the Vienna State Opera, and "Commandeur" of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government.
Waltraud Meier was born in Würzburg, Germany. She sang in numerous choral groups during her younger years. Upon finishing her secondary education, she began graduate studies in English and Romance Languages while also taking voice lessons. She studied singing with Professor Dietger Jacob. In 1976, she decided to concentrate on a singing career and soon thereafter debuted at the Würzburg Opera as Lola in Cavalleria rusticana. Over the next several years she performed regularly at the opera house in Mannheim (1976–1978).