heáh-geréfa
- noun [ masculine ]
Grammar
A high reeve, reeve of high rank. Kemble, Saxons in England, ii.
156, observes of this word, 'It is a name of very indefinite signification, though
not of very rare occurrence. It is obvious that it really denotes only a reeve of
high rank, I believe always a royal officer; but it is impossible to say whether the
rank is personal or official; whether there existed an office called
heáhgeréfscipe having certain duties; or whether the circumstance
of the shire or other reeve being a nobleman in the king's confidence gave to him
this exceptional title. I am inclined to believe that they are exceptional, and
perhaps in some degree similar to the Missi of the Franks, officers dispatched under
occasional commissions to perform functions of supervision, hold courts of appeal,
and discharge other duties, as the necessity of the case demanded; but that they are
not established officers found in all the districts of the kingdom, and forming a
settled part of the machinery of government.' See also Stubbs' Const. Hist. i. 125,
- 343. Héhgeréfa proconsul, Ælfc. Gl. 106; Som. 78,
58; Wrt. Voc. 57, 38. Befora undercyningum ł héhgeroefum ante
præsides, Mk. Skt. Lind. 13, 9. Héghgeroefa comes,
Rtl. 193, 9. Cyninges heáhgeréfan gild iiii þúsend þrymsa the 'wergild'
of a king's high reeve four thousand 'thrymsas,' L. Wg. 4; Th. i. 186,
8: Chr. 778; Erl. 55, 26: 779; Erl. 55, 36: 1001; Erl. 136, 6, 8, 23, 24: 1002;
Erl. 137, 29.
Entry information
Citation
Bosworth, Joseph. “heáh-geréfa.” In An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Online, edited by Thomas Northcote Toller, Christ Sean, and Ondřej Tichy. Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University, 2014. https://bosworthtoller.com/18337.
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