Dewfall

Dewfall
This rare and long-established surname is a dialectal transposition of the locational name Duffield, from a place called Duffield in Derbyshire, or from North and South Duffield in the East Riding of Yorkshire. All the placenames derive from the Old Norse "dufa", a dove, and the Olde English pre 7th Century "feld", pasture. Locational surnames, such as this, were usually acquired by a local landowner, or by the lord of the manor, and especially by those former inhabitants of a place who had moved to another area, and were thereafter best identified by the name of their birthplace. Usually, the further away one moved the more the spelling was transposed, thus Duffield has been recorded as Dewfall, Dewfill, Diffell, Duffell, Duffil, and even Duffit. Early recordings from church registers include the marriage of John Duffell and Elzabeth Barker at St Antholins Church, London, in 1722, and the christening of John Dewfall, the son of John and Barbara Dewfall, at All Hallows, Bread Street, London, on May 5th 1760. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger de Duffield, which was dated 1170, in the "Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire", during the reign of King Richard 1, known as "The Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as the Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Surnames reference. 2013.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • dewfall — dew fall , n. The falling of dew; the time when dew begins to fall. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • dewfall — [do͞o′fôl΄] n. 1. the formation of dew 2. the time of the evening when this begins …   English World dictionary

  • dewfall — ˈ ̷ ̷ˌ ̷ ̷ noun Etymology: so called from the erroneous belief that dew comes down like rain 1. : formation of dew; also : the time when dew begins to deposit 2. : the amount of moisture deposited during one period of dewfall a very heavy dewfall …   Useful english dictionary

  • dewfall — noun Date: 1622 formation of dew; also the time when dew begins to deposit …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • dewfall — /dooh fawl , dyooh /, n. 1. formation of dew. 2. the time at which dew begins to form. [1615 25; DEW + FALL] * * * …   Universalium

  • dewfall — noun a) The forming of dew. b) The time when dew begins to form …   Wiktionary

  • dewfall — dew|fall [ˈdju:fo:l US ˈdu:fo:l] n [U] AmE the forming of dew or the time when dew begins to appear …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • dewfall — noun literary the time of evening when dew begins to form …   English new terms dictionary

  • dewfall — noun (U) literary the forming of dew or the time when dew begins to appear …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • Gefrorener Tau — auf einem Laubblatt Tau auf einem Spinnennetz …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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