French adjective sor, bright yellow. It is of Germanic origin and
cognate with sere.

The dim. Sorrel may be a colour name, but it was applied in venery to
a buck in the third year, of course in reference to colour; and some
of our names, e.g. Brocket and Prickett, [Footnote: Both words are
connected with the spiky young horns, Fr. broche, spit, being applied
in venery to the pointed horns of the second year.] both applied to a
two-year-old stag, must sometimes be referred to this important
department of medieval language. Holofernes uses some of these terms
in his idiotic verses

"The preyful princess pierc'd and prick'd a pretty pleasing priket;
Some say a sore; but not a sore, till now made sore with shooting.
The dogs did yell; put l to sore, then sorel jumps from thicket."

(Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 2.)

A few adjective nicknames of Celtic origin are so common in England
that they may be included here. Such are the Welsh Gough, Goff,
Gooch, Gutch, red, Gwynn and Wynne, white, Lloyd, grey, Sayce, Saxon,
foreigner, Vaughan, small, and the Gaelic Bain, Bean, white, Boyd,
Bowie, yellow-haired, Dow, Duff, black, Finn, fair, Glass, grey, Roy,
Roe, red. From Cornish come Coad, old, and Couch, [Footnote: Cognate
with Welsh Gough.] red, while Bean is the Cornish for small, and
Tyacke means a farmer. It is likely that both Begg and Moore owe
something to the Gaelic adjectives for little and big, as in the
well-known names of Callum Beg, Edward Waverley's gillie, and McCallum
More. The Gaelic Begg is cognate with the Welsh Vaughan. Two other
famous Highland nicknames which are very familiar in England are
Cameron, crooked nose, and Campbell, wry mouth. With these may be
mentioned the Irish Kennedy, ugly head, the name of the father of
Brian Boru.

CHAPTER XXIII. BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES

"As I think I have already said, one of Umslopogaas'
Zulu names was The Woodpecker."

(HAGGARD, Allan Quatermain, ch. vii.)

The great majority of nicknames coming under the headings typified by
Bird and Fowell, Best, and Fish or Fisk (Scand.) are easily
identified. But here, as everywhere in the subject, pitfalls abound.
The name Best itself is an example of a now misleading spelling
retained for obvious reasons--

"First, on the wal was peynted a forest,
In which ther dwelleth neither man nor best."

(A, 1976.)

We do not find exotic animals, nor even the beasts of heraldry, at all
frequently. Leppard