a canal, from _delfan_ (to dig); _e.g._ Delft, a town in Holland, intersected by canals; Delfshaven (the canal harbour); Delfbrüke (canal bridge). [Sidenote: DEN, DEAN (Saxon),] a deep, wooded valley. This word is traced by Leo and others to the Celtic _dion_ (protection, shelter); _e.g._ Dibden (deep hollow); Hazeldean (the valley of hazels); Bowden or Bothanden (St. Bothan’s valley), in Roxburghshire; Tenterden, anc. _Theinwarden_ (the guarded valley of the thane or nobleman), in Kent; Howden (the _haugr_ or _mound_ (in the valley), in Yorkshire; Howdon, with the same meaning, in Northumberland; Otterden (the otter’s valley); Stagsden (of the stag); Micheldean (great valley); Rottingdean (the valley of Hrotan, a chief); Croxden (the valley of the cross). [Sidenote: DEOR (A.S.), DYR (Scand.), THIER (Ger.),] a wild animal--English, a deer; _e.g._ Deerhurst (deer’s thicket); Durham, in Gloucester (the dwelling of wild animals). For Durham on the Wear, _v._ HOLM. Tierbach, Tierhage (the brook and the enclosure of wild animals). [Sidenote: DESERT, or DISERT,] a term borrowed from the Lat. _desertum_, and applied by the Celts to the names of sequestered places chosen by the monks for devotion and retirement; Dyserth, in North Wales, and Dyzard, in Cornwall; _e.g._ Dysart, in Fife, formerly connected with the monastery of Culross, or Kirkcaldy--near Dysart is the cave of St. Serf; Dysertmore (the great desert), in Co. Kilkenny; Desertmartin in Londonderry, Desertserges in Cork (the retreats of St. Martin and St. Sergius). In Ireland the word is often corrupted to _Ester_ or _Isert_--as in Isertkelly (Kelly’s retreat); Isertkeeran (St. Ciaran’s retreat). [Sidenote: DEUTSCH (Ger.),] from _thiod_, the people, a prefix used in Germany to distinguish any district or place from a foreign settlement of the same name. In Sclavonic districts it is opposed to the word _Katholic_, in connection with the form of religion practised by their inhabitants--as in Deutsch-hanmer (the Protestant village, opposed to Katholic-hanmer, belonging to the Catholic or Greek Church). In other cases it is opposed to _Walsch_ (foreign--_v._ WALSCH), as in Deutsch-steinach and Walsh-steinach (the German and foreign towns on the _Steinach_, or stony water). The Romans employed the word _Germania_ for _Deutsch_, which Professor Leo traces to a Celtic root _gair-mean_ (one who cries out or shouts); _e.g._ Deutschen, in the Tyrol; Deutz, in Rhenish Prussia; Deutschendorf, in Hungary; Deutschenhausen, in Moravia, i.e. the dwellings of the Germans. The earliest name by which the Germans designated themselves seems to have been _Tungri_ (the speakers). It was not till the seventeenth century that the word _Dutch_ was restricted to the Low Germans. The French name for Germany is modernised from the _Alemanni_ (a mixed race, and probably means _other_ men, or _foreigners_). [Sidenote: DIEP, TIEF (Teut.), DWFN (Cym.-Cel.),]