Brock, Barn.

Two rural words, one common and one not, both with interesting etymologies I hadn’t known. 1) brock ‘(male) badger’: From Middle English brok, from Old English broc (“badger”), related to Danish brok (“badger”); both probably originally from a Celtic source akin to Irish broc, Welsh broch, Cornish brogh and thus ultimately from Proto-Celtic *brokkos. Wiktionary says it’s a male badger, but the OED (entry from 1888) doesn’t limit it by sex; to quote its definition: “A badger: a name, in later times, associated especially with the epithet stinking.” Poor creature! 2) barn; OED (entry 1885): Old English bęre-ern lit. ‘barley-place,’ < bęre barley + ærn, ern, place, closet, storeroom; reduced already in Old English to bęrern, bęren, bęrn, whence Middle English bern, modern barn. Simple but surprising!