Deer modern Germanic languages save English and Scots retain the more general sense: for example, German "Tier" and Norwegian "dyr" mean "animal". For many types of deer in modern English usage, the male is a "buck" and the female a "doe", but the terms vary with dialect, and according to the size of the species. The male red deer is a "stag", while for other large species the male is a "bull", the female a "cow", as in cattle. In older usage, the male of any species is a "hart", especially if over five years old, and the female is a
Alan (given name) for him to be fleet like a deer"), Modern Welsh "elain" (plural "alanedd") "young deer" (and the plant name "alan" "coltsfoot, elecampane"), coming from a Brittonic root "*alan-" or "*elan" (also attested in Celtiberian in personal names such as "Elanus", "Elaesus", and "Ela"), ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European "*(H)el-Hn-" "deer, hind" (perhaps denoting an animal - generally cervids - with red or brown fur). Another explanation of the name is that the modern English "Alan", and French "Alain", are derived from the name of the Alans. The Alans were an Iranian people who lived north of the Caucasus Mountains in what