Q: Safari can't find self.local server

I have a testing instance involving Apache, PHP and PostgreSQL set up on my laptop.  The DNS address is lydia.local.  The site address in PHP is specified as lydia.local so that I can access it from other computers on the LAN at home.  Up until the most recent 10.11 updates (currently at 10.11.6) I could access the site through localhost, and that would be automatically mapped to lydia.local in the browser, which kept the instance happy.

Now both Safari and Safari Technology Preview tell me that lydia.local cannot be accessed, whether I attempt to access using localhost or lydia.local.

Meanwhile, over in Chrome, I can still access the site, either through localhost or lydia.local.

Why is Safari (and El Capitan) being so spiteful about this?