Index:

badger broc(c)

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Season:

June and July

Culinary:

Medical:

badger parts are used in some medicines

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Notes:

may not have been eaten

Literary:

occurs in place names

Species and Find sites:

Bones found inside buildings at West Stow

Etymology

type of low, nocturnal, burrowing, carnivorous animal, 1520s, perhaps from bage "badge" + reduced form of -ard "one who carries some action or possesses some quality," suffix related to Middle High German -hart "bold". If so, the central notion is the badge-like white blaze on the animal's forehead (as in French blaireau "badger," from Old French blarel, from bler "marked with a white spot;" also obsolete Middle English bauson "badger," from Old French bauzan, literally "black-and-white spotted").

Old English names for the creature were the Celtic borrowing brock; also græg (Middle English grei, grey).

birds fug(e)las, fugol

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Season:

Culinary:

eaten in winter when supplies short
wild birds eaten by the hlaford or lord, indicated he kept hawks

Medical:

'all the birds that live on the hills' (ealle pa fugelas pe on dunum libbad) was considered a meat that made good blood and
'birds that have hard flesh - peacock - swan - duck' (fuglas þa þe heard flæsc habba# - pawa - swan - ænid)

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

O.E. bird, rare collateral form of bridd, originally "young bird, nestling" (the usual O.E. for "bird" being fugol "fowl"), of uncertain origin with no cognates in any other Germanic language.

Notes:

modern game birds are: Pheasant, Mallard, Partridge, Woodcock, Teal, Grouse, Snipe
I believe the Anglo-Saxons would eat a greater variety of wild birds

Literary:

the flesh of birds considered lawful to eat by those living under a Monastic Rule as the term 'quadraped' is used to describe unlawful meat
the fugelere 'fowler' of the Colloquy catches birds with 'nets, sometimes with snares, sometimes with lime, sometimes with whistling, sometimes with hawks, sometimes with traps.' netum hwilum mid grinum hwilum mid lime hwilum mid hwistlunge hwilum mid hafoce hwilum mid treppum.

Species and Find sites:

bones identified at St. Barnabas Hospital, Thetford (9th/10th century):
- Anas platyrhynchos (Mallard)
- Buteo buteo (Common Buzzard)
- Branta bernicla (Brent Goose)
- Branta leucopsis or Anser albifrons (Barnacle or White-Fronted Goose)
- Anser brachyrhynchus (Pink Footed Goose)
- Anas acuta (Pintail)
- Anas penelope (Widgeon)
- Anas clypeata/Aythya fuligula (Shoveller/Tufted Duck)

boar bar, bearg, eofor

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Season:

all year

Culinary:

eaten by the hlaford or lord, indicated he kept a pack of hounds
'hack the lights, liver, and heart of a boar or swine' possibly similar to haggis?

Medical:

boars flesh recommended for an invalid with 'a hard swelling of the stomach' (heardum swile þæs magan)
a 'boar's dropping which one findeth in a wood' is included in a remedy
Sele ðú him fl%sc eofores 'give him boar's flesh'
a pregnant woman is advised against eteð fearres flæsc oððe rammes oþþe buccan oþþe b%res oþþe hanan oþþe ganran 'eating bull's flesh or ram's or buck's or bear's (or boar's) or hens or ganders'

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

a plant is named eofor-þrote 'boar-throat' possibly because it was folk medicine for the animal

Notes:

boar are noted as being especially ferocious and dangerous
a 'boar-spear' bár-spere or bár-spreót had a strong cross bar to stop the animal running right up it when stabbed and enraged
Apparently it is hard to distinguish between wild boar and domestic pig bones (see pig in the meat section)
the wild boar is the ancestor of most pig breeds

Literary:

the Hunter in Ælfric's Colloquy (late 10th Century) catches heortas & báras & rann & rægan & hwílon haran 'harts and boars and does and sometimes hares'. The boar, whose throat is cut is driven towards the hunter by his dogs. The hunter is called very brave for standing against him!

Species and Find sites:

Sus scrofa (Eurasian wild boar)

Faversham, Kent (pub beer garden)
West Stow, Suffolk (5th-7th c)
Flixborough

Etymology:

Old English bar "boar, uncastrated male swine," from Proto-Germanic *bairaz (source also of Old Saxon ber, Dutch beer, Old High German ber "a boar"), which is of unknown origin with no cognates outside West Germanic.

Originally of either wild or tame animals; wild boar is from c. 1200. The chase of the wild boar was considered one of the most exciting sports. Applied by c. 1300 to persons of boar-like character.

buck buc, bucca, hæfer

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Season:

all year

Culinary:

details for ordering food for a funeral feast included 'another ore for a flitch of bacon and for a buck (hoþær hæræ at an flycha 7 at an buch)
'1 ore for 3 bucks'
'long bones often survived as one end plus a substantial length of shaft. . . . Chopping the bones to this extent may have happened after roasting, or the carcass may have been cut into pieces and boiled on the bone, which allows the marrow juices to seep into the liquid. This method is usual in modern Moslem cooking. Butchery marks where the shaft had been chopped across were quite common.' Gillian Jones 'Sheep, Goat' in Fishergate, 1985

Notes:

in Biblical passages it seems to mean 'he-goat' - I'm going to treat buck as male goat

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

as it is so hard to distinguish between sheep and goat bone I will reference this section under sheep.

Medical:

hæferes smeru 'bucks grease' is called for in one remedy alongside other animal fats
leechdoms says of it buccena is wyrrest 'buck is worst' as a meat to be late mylt 'slowly digested' and pregnant women are to avoid it

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology:

"male deer," c. 1300, earlier "male goat;" from Old English bucca "male goat," from Proto-Germanic *bukkon (source also of Old Saxon buck, Middle Dutch boc, Dutch bok, Old High German boc, German Bock, Old Norse bokkr), perhaps from a PIE root *bhugo (source also of Avestan buza "buck, goat," Armenian buc "lamb"), but some speculate that it is from a lost pre-Germanic language. Barnhart says Old English buc "male deer," listed in some sources, is a "ghost word or scribal error." The Germanic word (in the sense "he-goat") was borrowed in French as bouc.

crane cran, cornoch, cræn

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Season:

currently protected in England

Culinary:

provided by a Lord for his feast, as they indicated his ability to pay for and keep expensive hawks

Medical:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology:

large grallatorial bird with very long legs, beak, and neck, Old English cran, common Germanic (cognates: Old Saxon krano, Old High German krano, German Kranich, and, with unexplained change of consonant, Old Norse trani, Danish trane), from PIE *gere-no-, suffixed form of root *gere- (2) "to cry hoarsely," also the name of the crane (cognates: Greek geranos, Latin grus, Welsh garan, Lithuanian garnys "heron, stork"). Thus the name is perhaps an echo of its cry in ancient ears.

Notes:

'the exact date of the introduction of falconry into England is not known, but about the year 750 Winifred or Boniface, then Archbishop of Mons, sent Aethelbald, King of Kent, a hawk and two falcons; and Hedilbert, King of the Mercians, requested the same Winifred to send him two falcons, which had been trained to kill cranes.'
very popular in the Middle Ages and hunted to extinction in the UK
a large bird weighing between 3 and 6kg and standing between 1 and 1.3m tall

Literary:

occurs only in dictionaries and glosses
'The name belonged originally to the common crane (grus grus) which, until the 17th century, bred abundantly in the Fen countries of Great Britain, and was greatly prized as food.'
from Pennant's British Zoology. 'The Goshawk was in high esteem among falconers, and flown at cranes, geese, pheasants, and partridges.'

Species and Find sites:

Gruidae bones found in 5th and 6th c. buildings at West Stow (more in the early period)

culver (dove, pigeon) culfre, culufre

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Season:

(see pigeon)

Culinary:

Medical:

a meat 'that made good blood' was thought to be 'pigeons that be chicks of culvers' (pipiones $ beoð culfrena briddas)

Notes:

Literary:

many biblical quotes and others referring to culvers

Species and Find sites:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology:

the name of the wood-pigeon in the South and East. Old English culufre, from Vulgar Latin *columbra, from Latin columbula. It was replaced by pigeon.

curlew hwilpa, huilpa

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Season:

currently protected in England

Culinary:

may have been provided by a Lord for his feast, as they indicated his ability to pay for and keep expensive hawks

Medical:

Notes:

Literary:

occurs in poetry 'The Seafarer'

Species and Find sites:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology:

"type of grallatorial bird with a long, slender, curved bill," mid-14c., curlu, from Old French courlieu (13c., Modern French courlis), said to be imitative of the bird's cry but apparently assimilated with corliu "runner, messenger," from corre "to run," (from Latin currere "to run, move quickly," from PIE root *kers- "to run"). The bird is a good runner. In Middle English the word sometimes also meant "quail," especially in Bible translations.

dolphin mere-swin

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Season:

July - September

Culinary:

Medical:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology:

popular name of a diverse group of marine mammals, also including the porpoise (but the true dolphin has a longer and more slender snout), mid-14c., dolfin, from Old French daulphin, from Medieval Latin dolfinus, from Latin delphinus "dolphin," from Greek delphis (genitive delphinos) "dolphin," related to delphys "womb," perhaps via notion of the animal bearing live young, or from its shape.

Notes:

also translated as porpoise
dolphin hunting called Grindadráp "the grind" still happens in the Faroe Islands but is hotly debated and highly controversial

Literary:

the fisherman of the colloquy catches mere-swin

Species and Find sites:

Bottle nosed dolphin bones found at Flixborough

dove culfre, culufre

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Season:

!complicated

Culinary:

Medical:

a meat 'that made good blood' was thought to be 'chirpers that be chicks of doves' (pipiones $ beoð culfrena briddas)

Notes:

"You can’t shoot stock doves, collared doves or turtle doves." Field Sports Channel - Airgun Law

Literary:

many biblical quotes and others referring to culvers/doves

Species and Find sites:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology:

bird of the family Columbidae, early Middle English douve, 12c., probably from Old English dufe- (found only in compounds), from Proto-Germanic *dubon (source also of Old Saxon duba, Old Norse dufa, Swedish duva, Middle Dutch duve, Dutch duif, Old High German tuba, German Taube, Gothic -dubo), perhaps related to words for "dive," but the application is not clear unless it be somehow in reference to its flight.

Originally applied to all pigeons, now mostly restricted to the turtle dove. A symbol of gentleness, innocence, and tender affection from early Christian times, also of the Holy Spirit (as in Genesis viii.8-12), and of peace and deliverance from anxiety.

duck dop-enid, duce, ened, enid

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Season:

September - January

Culinary:

Medical:

'birds that have hard flesh - peacock - swan - duck' (fuglas þa þe heard flæsc habba# - pawa - swan - ænid) made good blood

Notes:

dop-enid = dipping duck;

Literary:

found in glosses, vocabs and boundary charters

Species and Find sites:

wild duck bones (Anas sp.) found in 5th c. buildings at West Stow

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology:

waterfowl, natatorial bird of the family Anatidae, Old English duce (found only in genitive ducan) "a duck," literally "a ducker," presumed to be from Old English *ducan "to duck, dive". Replaced Old English ened as the name for the bird, this being from PIE *aneti-, the root of the "duck" noun in most Indo-European languages.

"In the domestic state the females greatly exceed in number, hence duck serves at once as the name of the female and of the race, drake being a specific term of sex." [OED]

goat (wild) r@ge, wudu-gát

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Season:

all year

Culinary:

Medical:

late mylt hryþeres flæsc gæten - & hiorota - buccena is wyrrest & ramma - & fearra & þa þe swiðe ealde beoð on feoþorfotum nietenum 'late digesting cattle flesh, goat's and hart's, bucks is worst and ram's and bull's and those which very old be of four-footed beasts'

Notes:

r@ge = wild she-goat; wudu-gát = wood-goat

Literary:

the hunter of Aelfric's Colloquy hunts with nets and hounds and catches 'harts and boars and roes and wild she-goats and sometimes hares' heortas & báras & rann & rægan & hwilon haran

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology:

Old English gat "she-goat," from Proto-Germanic *gaito (source also of Old Saxon get, Old Norse geit, Danish gjed, Middle Dutch gheet, Dutch geit, Old High German geiz, German Geiß, Gothic gaits "goat"), from PIE *ghaid-o- "young goat," also forming words for "to play" (source also of Latin hædus "kid").

The word for "male goat" in Old English was bucca or gatbucca until late 1300s shift to 'he-goat, she-goat'.

Species and Find sites:

bones found at:

West Stow - 5th to 7th

goose gós, gose

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Season:

September - January

Culinary:

Medical:

Ne ete fersce gós 'do not eat fresh goose' unless it was salted - advises Leechdoms

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology:

"a large waterfowl proverbially noted, I know not why, for foolishness" [Johnson], Old English gos "a goose," from Proto-Germanic *gans- "goose" (source also of Old Frisian gos, Old Norse gas, Old High German gans, German Gans "goose"), from PIE *ghans- (source also of Sanskrit hamsah (masc.), hansi (fem.), "goose, swan;" Greek khen; Latin anser; Polish gęś "goose;" Lithuanian žąsis "goose;" Old Irish geiss "swan"), probably imitative of its honking.

Notes:

Literary:

from Pennant's British Zoology. 'The Goshawk was in high esteem among falconers, and flown at cranes, geese, pheasants, and partridges.'
glosses specify wild goose, grey goose and white goose as well as goose fowl - wildegós, hwitgós, gr@gós, gósfugol, gan(d)ra (male goose),

Species and Find sites:

white fronted goose (Anser albifrons) found in 6th c. buildings at West Stow

gull dap-fugel, m%w, gr%g-hama, pur

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Season:

currently protected

Culinary:

Medical:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology:

shore bird, early 15c. (in a cook book), probably from Brythonic Celtic; compare Welsh gwylan "gull," Cornish guilan, Breton goelann; all from Old Celtic *voilenno-. Replaced Old English mæw.

Notes:

Literary:

from glosses and poetry 'the seafarer'
"The word mew was perhaps originally imitative of the mew or cry of the bird. In the 15th cent, glosses the word semewe appears for the first time." The Birds of Old English Literature

Species and Find sites:

herring / lesser black-backed gull (Larus sp.) and common gull (Larus canus) found in 6th c. buildings at West Stow

hare hara

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Season:

all year

Culinary:

Medical:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology:

Old English hara "hare," from Proto-West Germanic *hasan- (source also of Old Frisian hasa, Middle Dutch haese, Dutch haas, Old High German haso, German Hase), of uncertain origin; possibly the original sense was "gray" (compare Old English hasu, Old High German hasan "gray"), from PIE *khas- "gray" (source also of Latin canus "white, gray, gray-haired"). Perhaps cognate with Sanskrit sasah, Afghan soe, Welsh ceinach "hare."

Notes:

Rabbits burrow in the ground; hares do not.

Literary:

the hunter of Aelfric's Colloquy hunts with nets and hounds and catches 'harts and boars and roe-deer and wild she-goats and sometimes hares' heortas & báras & rann & rægan & hwilon haran

Species and Find sites:

Lepus sp. bones found at:

West Stow - 5th to 7th
Flixborough

hart heorot, heort

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Season:

(see red deer)

Culinary:

Medical:

hart's grease is called for in remedies
late mylt hryþeres flæsc gæten - & hiorota - buccena is wyrrest & ramma - & fearra & þa þe swiðe ealde beoð on feoþorfotum nietenum 'late digesting cattle flesh, goat's and hart's, bucks is worst and ram's and bull's and those which very old be of four-footed beasts'

Notes:

Literary:

the hunter of Aelfric's Colloquy hunts with nets and hounds and catches 'harts and boars and roe-deer and wild she-goats and sometimes hares' heortas & báras & rann & rægan & hwilon haran

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

heorotbrembel - buckthorn 'The berries are exceedingly loved by stags'; heort clæfre - hart-clover

Species and Find sites:

Etymology:

Middle English hert, from Old English heorot "hart, stag, male of the red deer," from Proto-Germanic *herutaz (source also of Old Saxon hirot, Old Frisian and Dutch hert "stag, deer," Old High German hiruz, Old Norse hjörtr, German Hirsch "deer, stag, hart"), perhaps from PIE *keru-, extended form of root *ker- (1) "horn; head."

In later times, a male deer after its fifth year, when the crown antler has appeared. The female is a hind.

heron hrágra

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Season:

currently protected

Culinary:

Medical:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology:

"long-necked, long-legged wading bird," c. 1300, from Old French hairon, eron (12c.), earlier hairo (11c., Modern French héron), from Frankish *haigiro or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *hraigran. Related to Old High German heigaro, Danish hejre "heron," German Reiher, Dutch reiger, Old Norse hegri), perhaps from a common IE root imitative of its cry (compare Old Church Slavonic kriku "cry, scream," Lithuanian krykšti "to shriek," Welsh cregyra "heron," Latin graculus "jackdaw, crow"). Old English cognate hraga did not survive into Middle English.

Notes:

"This bird is a favourite quarry of the falcon, and when falconry was at its height, heronries were protected by law in England and other European countries." The Birds of Old English Literature

Literary:

occurs only in glosses

Species and Find sites:

Ardea cinerea (grey heron) bones found in 6th/7thc. houses at West Stow

lapwing læpe-wince, hleápe-wince

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Season:

currently protected

Culinary:

Medical:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Notes:

Literary:

occurs only in glosses

Species and Find sites:

Vanellus vanellus (lapwing) bones found in 6th c. houses at West Stow

Etymology:

Middle English lappewinke (late 14c.), lapwyngis (early 15c.), folk etymology alteration of Old English hleapewince "lapwing," probably literally "leaper-winker," from hleapan "to leap" + wince "totter, waver, move rapidly," related to wincian "to wink".

Said to be so called from "the manner of its flight" [OED] "in reference to its irregular flapping manner of flight" [Barnhart], but the lapwing also flaps on the ground pretending to have a broken wing to lure egg-hunters away from its nest, which seems a more logical explanation. Its Greek name was polyplagktos "luring on deceitfully."

pheasant wór-hana, wórhenn

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Season:

October - January

Culinary:

Medical:

'haunch of wild hens made good blood' hám wilda hænna (Cockayne states that wild hens are pheasants)

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology:

well-known game bird, long domesticated in Europe, c. 1300 fesaunt (mid-12c. as a surname), from Anglo-French fesaunt, Old French faisan (13c.) "pheasant," from Latin phasianus (Medieval Latin fasianus), from Greek phasianos "a pheasant," literally "Phasian bird," from Phasis, the river flowing into the Black Sea in Colchis, where the birds were said to have been numerous.

The ph- was restored in English late 14c. The unetymological -t is due to confusion with -ant, suffix of nouns formed from present participle of verbs in first Latin conjugation. The Latin word also is the source of Spanish faisan, Portuguese feisão, German Fasan, Russian bazhantu.

Notes:

Literary:

from Pennant's British Zoology. 'The Goshawk was in high esteem among falconers, and flown at cranes, geese, pheasants, and partridges.'
from Hudson's British Birds 'When and by whom it was introduced into England is not known. There is evidence that the bird existed and was held in great esteem in this country before the Norman Conquest; and the belief is that it was brought hither by the Romans, who were accustomed to introduce strange animals into the countries they conquered.'
only occurs in glosses

Species and Find sites:

pigeon culfre, culufre

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Season:

all year

Culinary:

Medical:

a meat 'that made good blood' was thought to be 'chirpers that be chicks of pigeons' (pipiones $ beoð culfrena briddas)

Notes:

Literary:

many biblical quotes and others referring to culvers/pigeons/doves

Species and Find sites:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology:

late 14c., pijoun, "a dove, a young dove" (early 13c. as a surname), from Old French pijon, pigeon "young dove" (13c.), probably from Vulgar Latin *pibionem, dissimilation from Late Latin pipionem (nominative pipio) "squab, young chirping bird" (3c.), from pipire "to peep, chirp," a word of imitative origin. As an English word it replaced culver (Old English culufre, from Vulgar Latin *columbra, from Latin columbula) and native dove (n.).

plover hulfestre

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Season:

September - January

Culinary:

Medical:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Notes:

Literary:

only occurs in glosses

Species and Find sites:

Grey plover (Pluvialis squatarola) bones found in 6th c. houses at West Stow

Etymology:

c. 1300, "migratory shore-bird of the Old World," from Anglo-French plover, Old French pluvier, earlier plovier (c. 1200), from Vulgar Latin *plovarius, literally "belonging to rain," from Latin pluvia "rain (water)" from pluere "to rain" (from PIE root *pleu- "to flow"). Perhaps it was so called because the birds' migration arrival in Western Europe (it breeds in summer in the Arctic) coincides with the start of the rainy season, or from its supposed restlessness when rain approaches.

porpoise mere-swin

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Season:

(see dolphin)

Culinary:

Medical:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Notes:

also translated as dolphin

Literary:

the fisherman of the colloquy catches mere-swin

Species and Find sites:

Etymology:

type of blunt-headed, thick-bodied cetacean common in the North Atlantic, early 14c. (late 13c. as a surname), porpas, porpays, porpeis, "the common porpoise," also the edible flesh of it, from Old French porpais (12c.) "porpoise," literally "pig fish," from porc "pig, swine" (from Latin porcus "pig," from PIE root *porko- "young pig") + peis "fish," from Latin piscis "fish" (from PIE root *pisk- "a fish").

The Old French word probably is a loan-translation of a Germanic word meaning literally "sea-hog, mere-swine;" compare Old English mereswyn, Old Norse mar-svin, Old High German meri-swin (Modern German Meerschwein), Middle Dutch mereswijn "porpoise," the last of which also was borrowed directly into French and became Modern French marsouin. Classical Latin also had a similar name, porculus marinus (in Pliny), and the notion behind the name likely is a fancied resemblance of the snout to that of a pig.

red deer

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Season:

(England) Stags - Aug - April; Hinds - Nov-Mar

Culinary:

Medical:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Notes:

"post cranial bones in addition to antlers, showing that these animals were hunted for food on an occasional basis."

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

(Cervus elaphus) bones found at:

West Stow - 5th to 7th

Etymology:

possibly named for their reddish-brown coat

roe rá, r@ge

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Season:

deer (England) Bucks - Apr - Oct; Does - Nov - Mar
goat - all year

Culinary:

Medical:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology:

"species of small deer of the Old World," Middle English ro, from Old English ra, raha, from Proto-Germanic *raikhaz (source also of Old Norse ra, Old Saxon reho, Middle Dutch and Dutch ree, Old High German reh, German Reh "roe"), a word of uncertain origin; perhaps from PIE root *rei- "streaked, spotted, striped in various colours."

Improperly used of the adult female of the hart.

Notes:

rá and r@ge are both translated as roe; one referring to a wild she-goat, the other to a deer.

Literary:

the hunter of Aelfric's Colloquy hunts with nets and hounds and catches 'harts and boars and roes and wild she-goats and sometimes hares' heortas & báras & rann & rægan & hwilon haran

Species and Find sites:

roe deer

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Season:

(England) Bucks - Apr - Oct; Does - Nov - Mar

Culinary:

Medical:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology:

Notes:

"post cranial bones in addition to antlers, showing that these animals were hunted for food on an occasional basis."

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

(Capreolus capreolus) bones found at:

West Stow - 5th to 7th
Flixborough

sand-martin stæ#swealwe

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Season:

currently protected

Culinary:

Medical:

gif mon fundige wiþ his feond to gefeohtanne stæ#swealwan briddas geseoþe on wine ete þonne aer o##e wylle wætre seo#e 'If a man intends with his foe to fight bank-swallows chicks cooked in wine eat thence before or in spring water cook.'

Notes:

= 'bank swallow'

Literary:

only occurs in glosses

Species and Find sites:

Clivicola ripari

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology:

snipe hæferbl%te, snite

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Season:

August - January

Culinary:

Medical:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology:

long-billed marsh bird, early 14c., from Old Norse -snipa in myrisnipa "moor snipe;" perhaps a common Germanic term (compare Old Saxon sneppa, Middle Dutch snippe, Dutch snip, Old High German snepfa, German Schnepfe "snipe," Swedish snäppa "sandpiper"), perhaps originally "snipper." The Old English name was snite, which is of uncertain derivation.

Notes:

= 'goat bleater' "This seems to describe accurately the male snipe, whose love song resembles the bleating of a goat. Hence in many languages the snipe is known by names signifying 'flying goat,' 'heaven's ram,' as in Scotland the 'heather-bleater.'" Birds in the Old English Literature

Literary:

only occurs in glosses

Species and Find sites:

Gallinago gallinago bones found in 5th c buildings at West Stow

starling stær

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Season:

NI only

Culinary:

Medical:

Wiþ blædder wærce . . . etan gebrædne stær 'For bladder pain . . . eat a roasted starling'

Notes:

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Sturnus vulgaris bones found at West Stow in 6th/7th c houses

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology:

"Sturnus vulgaris," Old English stær "starling," from Proto-Germanic *staraz (source also of Old English stearn, Old Norse stari, Norwegian stare, Old High German stara, German star "starling"), from PIE *storo- "starling" (source also of Latin sturnus "starling," Old Prussian starnite "gull").

swan swan

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Season:

currently protected

Culinary:

Medical:

'birds that have hard flesh - peacock - swan - duck' (fuglas þa þe heard flæsc habba# - pawa - swan - ænid) made good blood

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Notes:

'the whistling or wild swan (cygnus musicus), was known to the Anglo-Saxons, as its peculiar song is described in Riddle 8 in the Exeter Book.

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Cygnus sp. bones found in 5th and 6th c buildings at West Stow

Etymology:

Old English swan "swan," from Proto-Germanic *swanaz "singer" (source also of Old Saxon swan, Old Norse svanr, Danish svane, Swedish svan, Middle Dutch swane, Dutch zwaan, Old High German swan, German Schwan), probably literally "the singing bird" (from PIE root *swen- "to make sound").

teal

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Season:

(see duck)

Culinary:

Medical:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Notes:

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Anas crecca bones found in 6th c buildings at West Stow

Etymology:

"small freshwater duck," early 14c., of uncertain origin, probably from an unrecorded Old English word cognate with Middle Dutch teling "teal," Middle Low German telink, from West Germanic *taili.

thrush þræsce, þrysce, þrostle

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Season:

currently protected

Culinary:

Medical:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Notes:

Literary:

only occurs in glosses and the bible

Species and Find sites:

Turdus philomelos (song thrush) bones found in 5th - 7th c buildings at West Stow

Etymology:

type of songbird, Old English þræsce, variant of þrysce, from Proto-Germanic *thruskjon (source also of Old Norse þröstr, Norwegian trost, Old High German drosca), from PIE *trozdo- (source also of Latin turdus, Lithuainian strazdas "thrush," Middle Irish truid, Welsh drudwy "starling," Old Church Slavonic drozgu, Russian drozdu).

whale hwæl

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Season:

April - September

Culinary:

Medical:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Notes:

Literary:

the fisherman of the Colloquy won't hunt whales because it is dangerous

Species and Find sites:

bones identified at:

Bishopstone
Flixborough

Etymology:

"animals of the mammalian order Cetacea," Old English hwæl "whale," also "walrus," from Proto-Germanic *hwalaz (source also of Old Saxon hwal, Old Norse hvalr, hvalfiskr, Swedish val, Middle Dutch wal, walvisc, Dutch walvis, Old High German wal, German Wal), from PIE *(s)kwal-o- (source also of Latin squalus "a kind of large sea fish").

woodcock wudu-cocc, wudu-hana, holthana, wudusnite

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Season:

October - January

Culinary:

Medical:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Notes:

Literary:

only occurs in glosses

Species and Find sites:

Scolopax rusticola bones found in 6th c buildings at West Stow

Etymology:

from wood + cock

wood-pigeon wudu-culfre, cuscote

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Season:

all year

Culinary:

Medical:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology:

the name of the wood-pigeon in the South and East. Old English culufre, from Vulgar Latin *columbra, from Latin columbula. It was replaced by pigeon.

Notes:

"Woodpigeons make good eating but you can’t shoot one to eat it." Field Sports Channel - Airgun Law
"Woodpigeon shooting in the UK is conducted year-round as an aid to crop protection and public safety" The British Association for Shooting and Conservation

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Resources:

The Birds of Old English Literature, Charles Huntington Whitman - https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/27699063.pdf
Online Etymology Dictionary
Bosworth & Toller Old English Dictionary
Aefric's Colloquy (10th c.)
Leechdoms - Oswald Cockayne 1864
Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food - Anne Hagen (both volumes)
EAA 47 - West Stow Animal Husbandry, Pam Crabtree
Wikipedia
https://www.fieldsportschannel.tv/airgun-law-uk/

Game

initially "the sport of hunting, fishing, hawking, or fowling" (c. 1300), thus "wild animals caught for sport" (c. 1300)

Index:

B

badger broc(c)

birds fug(e)las, fugol

boar bar, bearg, eofor

buck buc, bucca, hæfer

C

crane cran, cornoch, cræn

culver (dove, pigeon) culfre, culufre

curlew hwilpa, huilpa

D

dolphin mere-swin

dove culfre, culufre

duck dop-enid, duce, ened, enid

G

goat (wild) r@ge, wudu-gát

goose gós, gose

gull dap-fugel, m%w, gr%g-hama, pur

H

hare hara

hart heorot, heort

heron hrágra

L

lapwing læpe-wince, hleápe-wince

P

pheasant wór-hana, wórhenn

pigeon culfre, culufre

plover hulfestre

porpoise mere-swin

R

red deer

roe rá, r@ge

roe deer

S

sand-martin stæ#swealwe

snipe hæferbl%te, snite

starling stær

swan swan

T

teal

thrush þræsce, þrysce, þrostle

W

whale hwæl

woodcock wudu-cocc, wudu-hana, holthana, wudusnite

wood-pigeon wudu-culfre, cuscote

initially "the sport of hunting, fishing, hawking, or fowling" (c. 1300),
thus "wild animals caught for sport" (c. 1300)