#hearding

Hearding is an Anglo-Saxon masculine name composed of heard (hard) and -ing (one possessed of the quality of).

Variants:

Harding [William Bawdwen 1812 Dom Boc 2 (Buckinghamshire): 81].

Hardinc [William Bawdwen 1812 Dom Boc 2 (Gloucestershire): 72].

Hardingus [Sir Henry Ellis 1833 A General Introduction to Domesday Book 1: 432 & 2: 140].

Herding [Sir Henry Ellis 1833 A General Introduction to Domesday Book 1: 434].

Heardingus [Joseph Stevenson 1841 Liber Vitæ Ecclesiæ Dunelmensis, page 54].

Herdingus [Joseph Stevenson 1841 Liber Vitæ Ecclesiæ Dunelmensis, page 55].

Heardinc [John Kemble 1846 Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici 4: 234].

Heording [Benjamin Thorpe 1865 Diplomatarium Anglicum Ævi Saxonici, page 634].

Hearding [Ernst Förstemann 1900 Altdeutsches Namenbuch, volume 1, 2nd edition, column 752].

H(e)arding [Henry Harrison 1907-1918 Surnames of the United Kingdom 1: 188].

Heardyng [Susan Kelly 2007 Anglo-Saxon Charters 13: 239].

Note:

Forms ending with -us are Latinizations.

Stem:

Hᴇᴀʀᴅ = Hᴀʀᴅ [Joseph Bosworth 1838 A Dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon Language, 1st edition, page 175].

Suffix:

-ing = a suffix forming derivative masculine substantives, with the sense of ‘one belonging to’ or ‘of the kind of’, hence ‘one possessed of the quality of’ [Sir James Murray 1901 A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 1st edition, 5 (I, J, K): 282].

Definition:

hearding = A brave man, warrior, hero [Northcote Toller 1882-1898 An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, page 521].

Usage:

A butler called Heardyng witnessed a charter of King Eadweard III (the Confessor) in 1065: “+ Ego Heardyng pincerna” [Susan Kelly 2007 Anglo-Saxon Charters 13: 239].

Comments:

Hearding is apparently an example of a readymade compound used as a personal name, in the same way that Ealdorman and Northman were.