The adjective Franconian (also Frankish) refers to three main meanings :

• Anything related to the Franks, an ancient Germanic people, although the adjective Frankish is more appropriate for that meaning. The use of Franconian for Frankish is explained in the following point.

• Franconian can also refer to Franconia (German Franken), a historic region in Germany, now part of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. This region has its origins when Charlemagne's empire (Frankenreich in modern German, Francie in modern French) split into Francia occidentalis and Francia orientalis. The name of Francia occidentalis remained in that of France, whereas Francia orientalis remained in that of Franken (Franconia in English, Franconie in French). German use the adjective Fränkisch for both Frankish and Franconian (so does the French with the adjective francique), hence the use of Franconian in English speaking linguistics (see the following point).

• Franconian is also used in English speaking linguistics to refer to some ancient as well as modern Germanic languages, the Franconian languages. Due to the first two meanings of Franconian, in linguitics this adjective does not refer to a specific linguistic group not even to a specific area: Franconian (Fränkish or francique) refers to High German languages as well as Low German languages (See Wikipedia English pages Low German, Low Saxon-Low Franconian languages and Low Franconian languages).

Some basics of Germanic linguistics : in linguistics, German and Germanic do not have the same meaning: see Germanic. For other uses, see Franks (disambiguation). ... The Franconian Rake is originally is a heraldic symbol of the bishops of Würzburg, who - though nominally Dukes of Franconia - only ruled in parts of Franconia. ... The Free State of Bavaria  (German: Freistaat Bayern), with an area of 70,553 km² (27,241 square miles) and 12. ... Baden-Württemberg is a federal state in southwestern Germany to the east of the Upper Rhine. ... The term Franconian refers to the Franks, which settled in Germany, France, and the Low Countries between the second and fourth century A.D.. Various languages and dialects that are supposed to have developed from the original langauge of the Franks have been given the name of Franconian, and linguists... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Low German (also called Plattdeutsch, Plattdüütsch or Low Saxon, Old Saxon) is a name for the regional language varieties of the Low Germanic languages spoken mainly in northern Germany, and eastern Netherlands. ... Low Saxon-Low Franconian languages (Nederduitse talen, Nedderdüütsche Spraken) are any of a variety of West Germanic languages spoken in northern Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Surinam. ... Low Franconian is any of several West Germanic languages spoken in The Netherlands, northern Belgium, and South Africa. ...