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Langfer

Discussion of the name

Langfer is an Old English or Scandinavian masculine name of uncertain derivation, although the first element is clearly OE or Old Norse lang ‘long’. Björkman (1912: 59) suggested an ON *Langfari, but von Feilitzen (1937: 308) pointed out that all DB forms for -fari retain ‘a’ whereas the Langfer forms consistently have ‘e’. DB forms ‘ferd’, ‘fers’ and ‘fert’ are found for OE -frið (with ‘fer’ and ‘uer’ forms for this occurring in Exon) and ‘uer’ in some forms for ON -frøðr, the only other instance being in the equally obscure name Regifer where the second element is perhaps Contintental Germanic -fred or -frid (ibid.: 255-6, 348); no OE *Langfrið or ON *Langfrøðr is on record, however. A suggestion by Dodgson (in Rumble 1986: 7,109 Notes) that the DB name represents an OE byname lang-fære ‘long-lasting, enduring’ (or perhaps ‘far-travelled’) would certainly suit the forms but is again unrecorded, and because of these uncertainties Langfer is retained as the head-form here.

There are no pre-Domesday occurrences of this name in the PASE corpus.

Bibliography

Björkman 1912: E. Björkman, Zur Englischen Namenkunde, Studien zur Englischen Philologie 47 (Halle, 1912)

Rumble 1986: Domesday Book 34: Suffolk, ed. A. Rumble (Chichester, 1986

von Feilitzen 1937: Olof von Feilitzen, The Pre-Conquest Personal Names of Domesday Book, Nomina Germanica 3 (Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksells, 1937)

Forms of the name

Spellings in Domesday Book: Lancfer, Langfer(e)

Forms in modern scholarship:

  von Feilitzen head forms: Langfer

  Phillimore edition: Langfer

  Alecto edition: Langfer

Distribution map of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

List of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

Holder 1066

Shire	Phil. ref.	Vill	DB Spelling	Holder 1066	Lord 1066	Tenant-in-Chief 1086	1086 Subtenant	Fiscal Value	1066 Value	1086 Value	Conf.	Show on Map
Shire Huntingdonshire	Phil. ref. 19,13	Vill Hargrave	DB Spelling Lancfer	Holder 1066 Langfer 'of Hargrave'	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Eustace the sheriff	1086 Subtenant Herbert 'of Hargrave'	Fiscal Value 0.25	1066 Value 0.25	1086 Value 0.25	Confidence D	Map
Shire Northamptonshire	Phil. ref. 3,1	Vill Horn	DB Spelling Langfer	Holder 1066 Langfer 'of Horn'	Lord 1066 Edward, king	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 William de Saint-Calais, bishop of Durham	1086 Subtenant -	Fiscal Value 2.00	1066 Value 4.00	1086 Value 4.00	Confidence C	Map
Shire Suffolk	Phil. ref. 32,2	Vill Westerfield	DB Spelling Langfere	Holder 1066 Langfer 'of Westerfield'	Lord 1066 Healfdene 'of Thorington'	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Geoffrey de Mandeville	1086 Subtenant William fitzSaxwalo de Bouville	Fiscal Value 0.12	1066 Value 0.10	1086 Value 0.10	Confidence E	Map
Shire Suffolk	Phil. ref. 7,109	Vill Wadgate	DB Spelling Langfer	Holder 1066 Langfer 'of Wadgate'	Lord 1066 Northmann the sheriff	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Roger Bigod	1086 Subtenant Wihtmær 'of Norton'	Fiscal Value 0.02	1066 Value 0.02	1086 Value 0.02	Confidence E	Map
Totals								Fiscal Value	1066 Value	1086 Value

Sub-subtenant in 1086

Shire	Phil. ref.	Vill	DB Spelling	Holder 1066	Lord 1066	Tenant-in-Chief 1086	1086 Subtenant	Fiscal Value	1066 Value	1086 Value	Conf.	Show on Map
Shire Suffolk	Phil. ref. 7,109	Vill Wadgate	DB Spelling Langfer	Holder 1066 Langfer 'of Wadgate'	Lord 1066 Northmann the sheriff	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Roger Bigod	1086 Subtenant Wihtmær 'of Norton'	Fiscal Value 0.02	1066 Value 0.02	1086 Value 0.02	Confidence E	Map
Totals								Fiscal Value	1066 Value	1086 Value

People of this name

• Langfer 2 - Langfer ‘of Horn’ (Northants), fl. 1066
• Langfer 3 - Langfer ‘of Hargrave’ (Hunts.), fl. 1066
• Langfer 4 - Langfer ‘of Westerfield’ (Suff.), fl. 1066
• Langfer 5 - Langfer ‘of Wadgate’ (Suff.), fl. 1066x1086