54 MESDALE PLACE-NAMES. 



applied to any hollow place where the ground slopes on both 

 sides." Brock ett after Jamieson. 



"A den in the vernacular language of Scotland is synonymous 

 with what in England is called a dincjle ,• 2. a small valley. 

 Ben is used in the same sense." Jamieson's Diet. Bon is a hill. q^.v. 



^' Ben, a cave, lair of a wild beast; Lat. cuhile ; Old Dut. 

 denne ; Ger. tenne, a cave or den. Probably closely allied to 

 Mid. Eng. dene, a valley ; A.-S. denn, a valley. — Tenterden, JSTot- 

 tingdean." Skeat. 



Examples : — 



Wilden — den or retreat for wild animals, as boars, &c. 



Howden Moss — moss or bog of the Dene of the Hill. 



Dike oe Dyke. 



Icel. " dlhi, dik, a dike, ditch"— Cleasby; Suio-Goth. '•'■dike, 

 fossa aquis eliciendis facta; Angl. ditch; A.-S. die''' — Ihre; A.-S. 

 '■'■die, 1. dike, mound, bank; 2. ditch, foss" — Bosworth; ^^ dike, 

 ditch, scrobs" — Lye. 



Dan. dige ; Sw. dike; Ger. deicJi; Dut. dijk; Belg. dijck ; Gr. 

 Tet)(os, murus. 



Lat. scrobs, fossa; It. di(/a, argine ; Sp. dique ; Port, dique, 

 fosse, valla ; Er. digue ; Gael, dig, a fosse, ditch, drain, a wall of 

 loose stones ; "Wei. ffos, clawdd, with the same double sense ; 

 Manx jecig, cliash ; Corn, fos, a ditch, moat, trench, an intrench- 

 ment, a wall ; from Latin /oss«^, from fodio, to dig — Williams. 



A Gaelic, Icel., Scand., Suio-Goth., H. and L. Ger., and A.-S. 

 word adopted in modern tongues derived from Latin. 



" A dike, a ditch, this is only a variety of dialect. Though it 

 seems dgke and seugh or sough are distinguished in the north, a 

 dgke being a ditch to a dry hedge, either of trees or earth, as in 

 arable lands where the ditch is usually dry all summer ; but a 

 sough, a ditch brimful of water as in meadows or sow-brows, is 

 not above half a yard in height. A sough is a subterranean vault 

 or channel cut through a hill to lay coal mines or any other 

 mines dry." Ray's Gloss., p. 134. 



'' Bike, dyk, 1. a wall whether of turf or stone ; 2. a ditch as 



