Daily Ancestorjordfæstet
Jordfæstet means "committed to the earth": the priest cast earth on the coffin or grave, sometimes at a later date when the burial had been held without him.
In the rite, called jordpåkastelse, the priest throws earth on the grave or coffin three times. Only a priest could perform it, and when he could not be present at a burial, he performed it on a later occasion. FamilySearch describes jordfæstede in this sense: a grave consecrated later by the priest after a burial without him.
So a jordfæstet date in a church book can be the date of the rite, not of the burial or the death. The modern spelling is jordfestet, and jordfeste is the verb.
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How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "jordfæstet." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/norwegian/jordfaestet. Last checked 2026-10-28.