churches?

[wordchick.livejournal.com]

I was informed by a middle-aged taxi driver in a rural area that the difference between деревня and село was that the former had a church and the latter did not. However, when I looked in Dahl, it stated that деревня was a village without a church, and there is no entry for село at all (I use the on-line version, if that makes a difference). I accept that my driver was mistaken and that Dahl is correct, but is село not a word? I'm not sure what to make of this.

Also is there any way to anticipate which one-syllable masculine nouns will have a locative ending of y (ряд, порт, и.т.д.)? Is there a rule I don't know?