Pigeon/dove
Pigeon/dove - OE culfre, wuduculfre, cuscote, *dufe
It is not clear to what extent, if much at all, the old terms for pigeon/dove were assigned to specific species, except for turtur which certainly referred to the turtle dove (see separate entry) and, perhaps, wuduculfre. Culfre ultimately derives from Latin columba, dufe is the Germanic-inherited term and is either onomatopoeic (‘dooo-vuh’) or related to Old English dufan ‘to dive’, which rather suits the swooping flight of the woodpigeon and may, on this point, be connected to the third, rather strange, name, cuscote. This last is the oldest recorded (700 AD) and the first part is clearly imitative of generic cooing, while the second may be, as W. B. Lockwood suggests ‘shouter’ (i.e., one who calls out ‘coo’) or perhaps, is related to the Old English word scota (a shooter or hurler), and thus refers to the characteristically fast and direct speed of pigeons in flight.
Cullercoats (Northum)
Culver Cliffs (IoW)
Culverstone (Kent)
Cushat Law (Northumb)
Duffield (Derbs)
North Duffield (Yorks)
South Duffield (Yorks)
Dufton (Cumb)
Shotley (Suff)
Pigeons/doves appear in charters related to the following places: Lyminge, Kent (9th cen.), Norton, Wilts (?).
Sources (see ‘About’ page for the full bibliography): Watts, Cambridge Dictionary; Ekwall, Oxford Dictionary; www.langscape.org.uk.