Unfortunately in 1947 poor old Eric and the OED didn't have access to Wikipedia. If they had, they could have read that the Eurasian golden oriole (Oriolus oriolus), also called the common golden oriole, was, in medieval England, called the woodwele; its name derived from the song it sang.
Unfortunately in 1947 poor old Eric and the OED didn't have access to Wikipedia. If they had, they could have read that the Eurasian golden oriole (Oriolus oriolus), also called the common golden oriole, was, in medieval England, called the woodwele; its name derived from the song it sang.