The municipalities of Oldsum and Süderende (Fering: Olersem, Söleraanj) in the western part of Föhr are strongholds of the dialect.

Early borrowings were made from the Danish language and the Christianisation of the North Frisians around 1000 A.D. brought a modest influence of Christian and biblical names.

This practice was prohibited by the Danish Crown in 1771 for the Duchy of Schleswig and was therefore abandoned in the eastern part of Föhr.

As western Föhr was a direct part of the Danish kingdom until 1864, patronyms were in use there until 1828 when they were forbidden in Denmark proper as well.

Examples for Fering include:[4] Other loanwords were derived from American English when many people emigrated from Föhr to the United States but kept contact with their relatives on the island.

Previously, linguists like L. C. Peters, Otto Bremer and Reinhard Arfsten had each created their own Fering orthography.

Long vowels including those with umlauts are always written as double letters while consonants are short by default.

One of the first publicly noticed writers was Arfst Jens Arfsten (1812–1899) who began writing anecdotes in Fering around 1855.

[7] Others include Stine Andresen (1849–1927) who was a poet and writer from Wyk whose literature often refers to her native island.