Loddon

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A river flowing through parts of Hampshire and Berkshire in southern England ; a village in the English county of Norfolk
2. A waterway in southern England that runs through Hampshire and Berkshire ; a small settlement located in Norfolk, eastern England
3. The English river in the south that winds through Hampshire and Berkshire ; a rural village sitting in the county of Norfolk

Etymology: Loddon is the name of two English places, a village and river in Norfolk and a river in Hampshire and Berkshire, and it is far older than the English language that now carries it. Rivers often keep names from the people who lived beside them before the Anglo-Saxons arrived, and Loddon is probably one of these. Its exact meaning is uncertain. Scholars have proposed Celtic-derived roots, but none has been firmly established. Early spellings such as "Lodne" appear in medieval records, and the name seems to have been applied first to a watercourse and then passed on to the settlements beside it. Because the sources are thin, the most reliable thing that can be said is the age of the name itself: it predates the Old English settlers, who adopted it rather than coining it.