_Burrow_ (Vol. vii., p. 205.).--BALLIOLENSIS says that in North
Gloucestershire "the side of a thick coppice is spoken of as a very
_burrow_ place for cattle." He understands this to mean "sheltered, secure
from wind;" and he asks to what etymology this sense can be attributed. I
suspect the Anglo-Saxon _bearo_, a grove or copse, is the word here
preserved. As a wood forms a fence against the wind, and is habitually so
used and regarded by the agricultural population, the association of ideas
is suitable enough in this interpretation. _Bearo_, first signifying the
grove itself, might easily come to mark the shelter which the grove
afforded. But there is also a compound of this word preserved in the
ancient charters, in which the fitness of a place as a pasture for swine is
the prominent notion. Kemble, _Cod. Dipl._, No. 288.: "Hæc sunt pascua
porcorum, quæ nostrâ linguâ Saxonicâ _denbera_ nominamus." In the same
sense the compound with the word _weald_ (= a great forest) is found:
weald-_bero_. The wood was considered by our forefathers as propitious to
their swine, not only for its shelter, but also for the masts it supplied;
and this may have further helped to associate _bearo_ with the comforts of
cattle.