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TheFiraesi (Latinization) orPhiraisoi (original Greek) are apeople listed inPtolemy'sGeography (2.10).[1]
Ptolemy’s view of the region is not very precise, but he places them on the east side of what he believed to be an island, Scandia. The presence of the Goutai, orGoths, in the center, identifies Scandia fairly certainly as the southern portion of theScandinavian peninsula. As to whether the east of it was the east coast ofSweden or the coast ofFinland opposite, the latter is perhaps too remote for detailed knowledge by Ptolemy or his sources.
There is in fact a possibleGermanic derivation of Phiraisoi. They are in the same region as theFavonae, who may have been residents ofSmåland.Old Norse andOld Icelandic firar,Old English firas, are fairly close to Firaesi and mean "men, human beings" orVolk in German. As it happens,Uppland was traditionally divided intoFolkland – four provinces, which lost their jurisdictional
Koebler's Old Norse Etymological Database in theIndo-European Etymological Database online atLeiden University gives aProto-Indo-European root of *perkwus, becoming Germanic *ferhwioz byGrimm's Law. The root meaning is "oak", but the oak was regarded as a symbol of hardness, toughness and strength (see alsoHarudes).
With regard to people it means "life force" or especially "power", in the sense of the collective power of the folk. It would be a descriptive epithet of the *teuta-, "tribe, people". This connotation is probably not devoid of a military sense, as the root went intoHittite, a very early branch of Indo-European, as "army". Uppland then would have been a densely populated and at the time fairly conservative remnant of Indo-European culture. If the Indo-European penetration ofEurope can be regarded as a very slow invasion, its Schwerpunkt, or "heavy point", came to rest in Uppland.[citation needed]
The Firaesi are not mentioned elsewhere in history, perhaps because of language changes and the preference of folk for firar. More information is undoubtedly to be gleaned from archaeology.
