I used to have a similar approach to yours in trying to derive the meaning of old words. My saddest attempt was where "Yeovil" (where I live in South Somerset,

I used to have a similar approach to yours in trying to derive the meaning of old words. My saddest attempt was where "Yeovil" (where I live in South Somerset, UK) comes from. The river Yeo flows nearby and clearly the town was named after it Yeo-ville. Hah! The village/ham/whatever here was documented as Gifle in around 973 which is an old Saxon (?) word for a bend in a river. Over time and the vagaries of spellings and quite a few changes in vowels and consonant usage, notably G <-> Y, F <-> V. There are something like 50 odd spellings documented for this place over the years since. It would seem the river got its name from the town that got its name from being on a bend in said river. Nearby is Yeovilton - don't even think of trying to derive that one!