Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• (æt) Lutegareshale 1015 KCD722 1164,1185 P 1227,1241,1247 Ass 1255 For 1262 Ass 1331 Cl

• Lotegarser 1086 DB

• Luttegersahala Hyii Ch 1285

• Luttegareshall 1233 Ch

• Ludegarshal 1241 Ass

• Lottegarsale 1257 Ipm

• Lotegershal(e) 1262 Ass 1302 FA 1315 Fine

• Luttegareshale 1298 Ipm

• Lutegarsale 1302 Fine 1334 Cl

• Ludegershale 1315 Fine

• Lotegarssale 1346 Cl

• Lutegarshale ib.

• Ludgareshale 1347 Pat

• Luteger(s)shale 1348 Ipm

• Lutegarshalle 1381 IpmR

• Lodegarshale 1382 Cl

• Lurgessale 1509 LP

• Lurdgarsall 1526 LP

• Lurgosall 1536 LS

• Lurgesall Eliz ChancP 1627 Vern

• Ludgarsell 1766 J

Etymology

This is a puzzling name and its history cannot be separated from that of Ludgershall (W), Ludgarshall (Gl) and Lurgashall (Sx). All names end in healh and all three developed the same pronunciation, to judge from the latest spellings of them— Lurgasill for the Wilts one and Largeshall (sic) for the Gloucestershire one. The difficulty lies in the first element. There is very little variation in the early forms of it. In the Wilts name the forms follow those of the Bucks one closely, those with initial Lud - being definitely of late development. For the Gloucestershire name the forms are in order of appearance from 1220 to 1310, Lutegares -, Letegares - and Lotegares -. For the Sussex one we have Letegares - in 1136 and Lodegars - in 1428. The only other names that come in for consideration at the same time are an unidentified Ludegarstun in a late copy of a Worcestershire charter and Lutgaresberi the old name for Montacute (So), cf. IPN 115. If this is the gen. sg. of a pers. name as seems almost certain from the forms, the second element of that name is -gar , a very common name-element. The only OE  name on record with initial Lut - is an 11th cent. Lutsige (KCD 1334) but that there was at least one other name with this prefix is clear from the place-names Lotherton (Y), Luttringtun in BCS 1352, Lutterington (Du), Lutringtona in Boldon Book, and Lutterworth (Lei), Lutresurde in DB. Each of these seems to contain a personal name Luthere and the name Lutting found in LVD is probably a patronymic form from Lutta , a pet-form of this name, which is not found independently but is found in a strong form in Luttes crundel (BCS 327). A mutated diminutive *Lytel , Lytila , is the origin of Lidlington (Beds) and (C), Littleton (Mx) and Littlecote below. The persistent e may be explained as a svarabhaktic vowel already developed between t and g in OE , cf. Baldwin Brown, Arts in Early England (v. 270), on the Bewcastle Cyniburug and other names, and v. Dude-man , Dudemær , Dudewine in Searle, Onomasticon .