The Deorhord

An entertaining tour of Old English words for animals, from the author of The Wordhord: Daily Life in Old English , which Neil Gaiman called “a marvelous book” Many of the animals we encounter in everyday life, from pets and farm animals to the wild creatures of field and forest, have remained the same since medieval times. But the words used to name and describe them have often changed beyond recognition, starting with the Old English word for “animal” itself, deor (pronounced DAY-or). In The D