Different Names

The following is excerpted from The Hare by Jill Mason.

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Few animals can have been given as many different names as the hare. Some are very localized and often the hare’s alternative names are associated with cats. This is thought to be because both cats and hares have been linked with witches, as their familiars. Another possibility is that a hare has a split upper lip, similar to that of a cat.

In Wales many of the old names for hares include “cath,” which is the word for cat in Welsh. The old Scots word for a Mountain hare was “malkin,” “mawkin,” or “maukin,” but this does not seem to be in use today. However, there is a country inn in Glen Devon called The Tormaukin which has a sign depicting two Mountain hares with the mountains in the background. Tor means hill.

In some areas of Scotland, hares are known as “fite” hares, fite being the word for white in local dialect. The word “baud” or “bawd” referred to hare in Norfolk. “Wat” or “watt” is another old Norfolk name for a hare. Part of the insignia for the town of Watton in Norfolk depicts a hare (or wat) jumping over a “tun,” an old name for a barrel. The Hare and Barrel is also the name of a pub in Watton. Shakespeare referred to the hare as a “wat,” a term which has also been used in Cornwall.



Many village signs in Norfolk portray features of local interest. The one at Harpley shows a pheasant, hare, and corn. Place names beginning with “Har” sometimes indicate a connection with the hare, so Harpley may well have got its name from the abundance of hares that surround it.