Alderney late 300s, at above the island's only natural harbour. The etymology of the island's name is obscure. It is known in Latin as "Riduna" but as with the names of all the Channel Islands in the Roman period there is a degree of confusion. "Riduna" may be the original name of Tatihou, while Alderney is conjectured to be identified with "Sarnia". "Alderney"/"Aurigny" is variously supposed to be a Germanic or Celtic name. It may be a corruption of "Adreni" or "Alrene", which is probably derived from an Old Norse word meaning "island near the coast". Alternatively it may derive from
Death to the French new boots, a shave, and his first ration of bread & salt in months. In "Sharpe's Escape" (2004), one of Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe novels (which were partly inspired by "Death to the French"), a Rifleman named Matthew Dodd is separated from Sharpe's company in a skirmish during the Peninsular Campaign in 1810. Cornwell has acknowledged on his website that this character is intended to be the same individual depicted by Forester in "Death to the French". Death to the French Death to the French is a 1932 novel of the Peninsular War during the Napoleonic Wars, written by C.