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Feud has an obscure and complicated derivation probably from Germanic rather than foedus and it shouldn't be instanced here. So I'm removing this to discussion: The words federation, feud and feudalism are derived from the word foederati, describing the restructuring of German tribes into emulation of Roman culture. Obviously, the word foe applies here. Some professional linguists should work on this knot. Sorry, don't mean to suppress text. Wetman 04:13, 23 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Please redirect 'foederatus' to this page. Zigzig20s 21:28, 21 January 2007 (UTC) reply

I repeat here what I've written in the talk of laeti page. It may be useful for someone competent to explain the difference between laeti and foederati if there is known one because it's really not obvious for not historian. VeNoo ( talk) 04:18, 1 May 2013 (UTC) reply

Perhaps it resolves to how formidible the tribe in question was. If the foederati became "foes," the laeti would seem to have become the "laity."

A tribe posessing professional soldiers (a warrior class) versus those who did not.

Just a layperson's two cents. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.66.225.70 ( talk) 16:31, 9 November 2022 (UTC) reply

Were the Foederati formal precursors of modern federal states, or were there older precedents? The connection is implied in the article via the use of the phrases 'federates' and 'federate states' but not explicitly stated. In any case, the etymological root appears identical from mainstream dictionaries and it might be worth pointing out this connection (by people more knowledgeable on the topic).