The commonest suffix in compound London place names is ‘ham’ (the origin of the word ‘home’), which used to mean a collection of dwellings – often a farm – as in Ickenham, Lewisham and Rainham.
Why do so many English places end with ham?
Here’s a hint: Every Massachusetts city and town with a “ham” in its name has a counterpart in England. Herwick said that “ham” essentially means a village. “And to take it a step further, that H-A-M — that ‘ham’ itself — in old English means ‘home,’ which is why it sort of doubles to mean ‘village’ as well.
Why does everything end in shire in England?
“Shire” is just the Anglo-Saxon equivalent of the old French word “county”, so Yorkshire, for example, means “County of York”.
What does ham mean in English places?
village
Armed with just a little etymological expertise, you can easily decode common parts of place names. You’ll begin to notice some simple suffixes like ‘ton’ (farm or hamlet), ‘ham’ (village or estate), ‘ly’ or ‘ley’ (wood or a clearing), ‘stow’ (place or meeting place) and ‘bury’ (fort).
Where does the suffix ham come from?
The suffix ‘ham’ could be derived from one of two words, ‘Ham’, the Saxon word meaning ‘settlement’, or ‘hamm’, meaning ‘water meadow’. A ‘ham’ can also be a geographical feature roughly corresponding to a peninsula surrounded on three sides, usually by marsh.
Why do English towns end in Ford?
Ford in modern English still means to cross a river without a bridge. A town with the -ford suffix was where a river was broad and shallow so that people could cross. Oxford was a good place for a team of oxen to cross the Thames River. The word village and the suffix -ville comes to English from the French.
Why do English towns end in Bury?
That’s because the suffix “-bury” derives from the Anglo-Saxon “burh,” meaning “a fort or fortified place.” So when you drive along I-84 from Waterbury to Danbury, passing Middlebury and Southbury along the way, you’re traveling a well-fortified route.
Why is Kent not a shire?
It tends not to be found in the names of shires that were pre-existing divisions. Essex, Kent, and Sussex, for example, have never borne a -shire, as each represents a former Anglo-Saxon kingdom. Similarly Cornwall was a British kingdom before it became an English county.
Why is Devon not a shire?
Devon, therefore, is only part of a territory that was once a much larger Celtic ‘nation’, known in Latin as Dumnonia before it became the Anglo-Saxon province of Defenascire – or Devonshire – which eventually would become part of England.
Is shire used in America?
The first Shires were imported to the United States in 1853, with large numbers of horses being imported in the 1880s. The American Shire Horse Association was established in 1885 to register and promote the breed.
What does ham mean in Nottingham?
The name of Nottingham is Anglo-Saxon in origin. A Saxon chieftain named Snot ruled an area known as Snotingaham in Old English; the homestead of Snot’s people (-inga = ‘the people of’; -ham = ‘homestead‘).
Is ham a Viking word?
The commonest Saxon place names are those ending in -ton or -ham. These two words are derived from the Old English (O.E.) words Tun, meaning fenced area or enclosure, and Ham, meaning village, estate or home (or sometimes the O.E. word Hamm, meaning meadow).
What does the word ham mean in Old English?
The Old English ham which means variously “homestead, village, manor, estate” (Mills, p. 381) and hamm which means “enclosure, land hemmed by water or marsh or higher ground, land in a riverbend, rivermeadow, promontory” (Mills, p. 381) both appear as ham in modern names.
What is the most remote town in England?
Riggs Moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park is England’s most remote place, where civilisation is almost cut off as the nearest restricted local-access road is a mere 2.4 miles away.
Which is the only town name in Britain to end in an exclamation mark?
As further development took place, the expanding settlement also acquired the name of Westward Ho! The exclamation mark is therefore an intentional part of the village’s name. It is the only such place name in the British Isles; Saint-Louis-du-Ha!
Why does America have so many English towns?
A large number of places in the U.S were named after places in England largely as a result of English settlers and explorers of the Thirteen Colonies. Some names were carried over directly and are found throughout the country (such as Manchester, Birmingham and Rochester).
What is the weirdest UK town name?
Wetwang. This is a famous village in the East Riding of Yorkshire because of its unusual name.
What is the oldest English town?
Colchester
Colchester. Colchester claims to be Britain’s oldest recorded town. Its claim is based on a reference by Pliny the Elder, the Roman writer, in his Natural History (Historia Naturalis) in 77 AD.
Why is it called Ramsbottom?
Its name is believed to derive from Old English ramm and botm, meaning ‘valley of the ram’. Its Victorian architecture, Pennine landscape and industrial heritage, including the East Lancashire Railway, contribute to heritage tourism in the town.
What the accent from Kent called?
Kentish dialect, the dialect of Modern English spoken in Kent.
Do people from Kent have a Cockney accent?
Dr Hornsby admits the county is absorbing cockney features – but if you go out to the villages, you are likely to hear Kentish traits. “There is not much grammatical difference, whether you’re from Kent, Essex or even Northamptonshire,” he says.