68 PLACE AND FIELD NAMES OF DERBYSHIRE. 
Nottinghamshire, are some of its vestiges which are to be found 
in our place-names. BEVERLEE, near Eastwood, is so close upon 
the borders of Derbyshire, that that county may fairly be claimed 
as a former habitat of this animal.* 
The otter, still found in both the Trent and Derwent, is 
commemorated in OTTERDALE, OTTERHOLES, and the ODDE- 
BROOK at Derby. The hunting of this animal is first mentioned 
in the year 1158, but its position among the animals of the chase 
is anything but honourable, being ranked in the third class with 
‘* beasts of a stinking flight.”’+ 
Of the general wildness of Derbyshire, and of the numerous 
animals with which it was infested, even after the invasion of the 
Danes, proof is found in the name of the county town, Derby, 
which simply signifies ‘‘ the abode among the wild animals ” 
(deora).{ The same prefix is found, in a corrupted form, in 
Durwoop Tor, and Durrant GREEN (Chesterfield). 
*% k * * k * sk % 
The BIRDS commemorated in the place-names of Derbyshire, 
though not quite so numerous as those connected with the 
quadrupeds, are equally interesting. The names of large birds, 
* Giraldus Cambrensis, Zofography of Zreland, cap. x. Stinerary through 
Wales, cap. iil. Pennant, B72t7sh Zoology, vol i. p. 98. The place-names of — 
Wales abound with combinations of francon. Thus Nant Frangon means 
“the beaver’s dale,” Sarn Yr Afrange ‘‘the beaver’s dam,” and Llyn Yr 
Afrange ‘‘ the beaver’s foot.” 
+ Fosbrook, Aztiguzties, vol. ii. p. 728. It is perhaps incorrect to mention 
Oddebrook as indicating the otter, though the Danish form is odder. It may’ 
simply mean ‘‘ the water brook,” from the Sanscrit zd, water; similar forms 
being found in the Greek hudor, the Slavonic woda, &c., &c. Besides three 
streams in England called respectively the Odder, Woder, and Adur, we find 
the Oder in Germany. The name of the animal itself is evidently derived 
from the element it frequents ; for, as Minshzeus says, ‘‘it liveth as well in the 
water as the land, like the Bever beast.” See Ferguson, River Mames of 
Lurope, p. 35- 
~The Saxon name for this town was Northworthige, but on its being 
captured by the Danes it was renamed Deoraby, or Derby. There can be but 
little doubt that the derivation given in the text is the correct one, though there 
was formerly no little dispute upon the point, some deriving the prefix from’ 
the Celtic dr, water. The most amusing derivation I have come across is to 
be found in Bullet’s Memories sur la Langue Celtigue, the component parts 
being “ Der, riviere, and 42, deux,” from its situation, as he says, on the 
confluence of two rivers. 
