PLACE AND FIELD NAMES OF DERBYSHIRE. 81 
refer to the alder-tree, the Anglo-Saxon form being a/r. These 
: prefixes are from Adder, or Aldred, old in counsel, used as a 
man’s name. WeRNEY (Darley Dale), however, signifies “the 
_ alder island,” being derived from the Cymric word wern. In 
connection with the elder there were various superstitions. It was 
universally regarded as a tree of bad omen, owing to the tradition 
that Judas hung himself from an elder. This tree was never 
cut by the Danes without calling on their god Hildi. Many 
old writers mention the ridiculous custom of wearing a piece 
of this wood in the breeches pocket to prevent galling when 
riding. Zien is the Anglo-Saxon term for the elder; we meet 
with it in Evins rieLps (T. C. Chesterfield).* 
Cesar tells us that the beech was not to be found in the forest 
of Britain. Of the accuracy of this statement, and of its subse- 
- quent introduction by the Romans, we have satisfactory proofs in 
the language of the Britons. All their terms for beech are 
obvious corruptions of the Latin fagus; such are faighe. faghe, 
and faydh. BuckLry, BucKsTONE, and BucKHOLM, come from 
the Anglo-Saxon déce, a beech tree. It may, however, be derived 
from 6c, a book. It would then signify book-land, ze., land 
held by charter or writing, free from all fines; what we should 
now call freehold land. It was called Bédcland, to distinguish 
it from the Folcland, which was the property of the nation at 
large. But, as Skinner points out, it would still come primarily 
from dece, the beech tree, from which our own word “ book ” is 
derived. The skin or bark of the beech tree was the first sub- 
Stance used as writing material by the Teutons, both in this 
and and in Germany.t 
_ There is not a single county which is destitute of place-names 
_ * Brand, Popular Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 586. Z%orfe, Northern Mythology, 
ii, 168. The use of elderwood, as a charm against galling when on horseback, 
is still prevalent on Exmoor. The most, celebrated gentleman rider with the 
Devon and Somerset Stag Ilounds is never without it, and has implicit 
confidence in its efficacy ! 
t+ Kemble, The Saxons in England, Book i. chap. 11. Whitaker, History of 
Manchester, vol. ii. p. 48. Some etymologists consider that a very different 
word to “‘book” is also derived from the beech-tree, viz., ‘‘ bacon,” from 
ducon, the beech-mast, on which the swine were chiefly fattened. 
