Hamburg, Ham (meadow), Hám (home), Ham (haunch/thigh), Hem (border)

From: The Egyptian Chronicles
Message: 67689
Date: 2011-06-04

Hamburg, Ham (meadow), Hám (home), Ham (haunch/thigh), Hem (border), Ham (covering), PIE *gheim, & Shame.

was: TACITUS' CHAMAVI; A GERMANIC TRIBE IN THE RHINE REGION.
 
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BRIAN M. SCOTT  wrote: -Since the oldest form is <Hammaburg>, the first element seems likelier to be akin to OE <hamm> 'meadowland; enclosed plot of land; solid land in a marsh; land in the bend of a river' and OFris. <hamm> 'enclosed land'.
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ISHINAN: Wikipedia History of Hamburg has the following: "Established about 810.The first historical name of the modern city is, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva. But the city takes its name from the first permanent building on the site, a fortress ordered to be built by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808. The castle was built on rocky ground in a marsh between the River Alster and the River Elbe as a defence against Slavic incursion. The castle was named Hammaburg, where burg means fortress. The origin of the Hamma term remains uncertain ,[ see  Verg, Erich; Verg, Martin (2007), Das Abenteuer das Hamburg heißt (4th ed.), Hamburg: Ellert&Richter, p. 8, ] "
 
However, your point merits consideration. So lets investigate it further. An exact definition from the German dictionary gives the following:
 
ham, hom; gen. hammes; m. A dwelling, fold, or enclosed possession. 'It is so frequently coupled with words implying the presence of water as to render it probable that, like the Friesic hemmen, it denotes a piece of land surrounded with paling, wicker-work, etc., and so defended against the stream, which would otherwise wash it away.' Cod. Dipl. Kmbl. iii. xxvii, where see instances of the occurrence of the word in local names.
 
Meanwhile, less than 2000 miles southeastwardly we come across the Arab city of H.ama (Arabic: حماة, Biblical Hamath)  a city on the banks of the Orontes River in central Syria north of Damascus. It is the provincial capital of the H.ama Governorate. H.ama is the fourth-largest city in Syria.  Writing in the first century, the Greek geographer Strabo described H.ama (Apamea), as a stronghold midway along the eastern side of the Ghab.  "A city on a well-fortified hill, situated in a hollow plain and almost surrounded by the Orontes, which, passing by a large lake in the neighborhood, flows through widespread marshes and meadows of vast extent, affording pasture for cattle and horses."
 
Now lets examine the etymology of H.ama حماة in Arabic and compare it to the Germanic one:
 
Lisan al-Arab dictionary gives the following definition: 

وهذا شيء حِمىً، أي محظورٌ لا يُقْرَبُ.
وأحْمَيْتُ المكان: جعلتُه حِمىً.
 
حَمَى الشيءَ يَحْمِيه حَمْياً وحِمايَةً، بالكسر، ومَحْمِيَةً: مَنَعَهُ
 
Another example is  Arabic "ghamm" which means: A land abundant with dense luxurious herbage and abounding with water.
 
 
وغَيم مُغَمِّم: كثير الماء
واغْتَمَّ النَّبْتُ: طالَ، وكثُرَ.
وأرْضٌ مُغِمَّةٌ: كثيرَةُ النَّباتِ
 
(to view the dictionary definition in English or French translated from the Arabic click below)
http://www.theegyptianchronicles.com/CULTURE/HAM1.html
 
 
 
TRANSLATION: A thing prohibited or restricted, not to be encroached upon, a place of herbage and water (i.e. a meadow) whose access has been prohibited to the general public.
 
HISTORY: The term H.ama refers to an old Arab custom, which prevailed in pre-Islamic times,  It was practiced by the nobles among the Arabs who restricted the pasture of certain selected meadows and their water sources from the commoners.  With the advent of Islam, the practice was discontinued by the Prophet with an exception for the use, by the  state cavalry, in the case of war.  Afterwards, the term was applied to a variety of situations; extending the meaning in politics in the sense of a protectorate, or to describe a military force stationed in a fortified area, or to designate a natural preserve. The primary sense of H.ama in Arabic, as in the Semitic languages, being: He protected it (a meadow), defended it, guarded it, from or against encroachment, invasion or attack by restricting access to it.
 
Interstingly enough, the above Arabic definition closely matches the following Germanic one: hem (n.)  P.Gmc. *hamjam (cf. O.N. hemja "to bridle, curb," Swed. hämma "to stop, restrain," O.Fris. hemma "to hinder," M.Du., Ger. hemmen "to hem in, stop, hinder"). hem eingehegter Raum, ags. hemm Rand (engl. hem).  hem in-preserved area, ags. restrain edge (English hem).
 
Several additional  OE passages may shed further light. 
 
-ham-scyld [?], L. Eth. 32; Th. i. 12, 1, where see note. Leo in his work on Anglo-Saxon Names quotes a passage from Richthofen in which skeld occurs in the sense of fence; so that the crime referred to in the passage would be the breaking through the fence which surrounded the ham. v. the translation of Leo, p. 40, note 2.
 
-hám-sócn, e; f. Attack on a man's house; also the fine paid for such a breach of the peace. if any one commit 'ham-socn,' let him pay a fine of five pounds to the king, 63; Th. i. 408, 27. [Scot. hame-sucken the crime of beating or assaulting a person within his own house: Icel. heim-sókn an inroad or attack on one's home: O. Frs. ham-, hem-sekenge attack on one's house.]
 
-Ðá Noe ongan hám staðelian, then began Noah to establish his home Jn. Skt. Lind. 14, 2: 23. Naeron ðá welige hámas, there were not then splendid mansions.
 
ISHINAN: It is evident in this case that we are facing different terms who over time might have converged.  One of which refers to the sense of a home (heim; til húsa - i.e.  homward to the house), and the other one in the sense of an enclosed meadow "hem in-preserved area."  It is also obvious that we are witnessing a great deal of fluctuation in the spelling resulting in the proliferation of homonyms. Hence, the apparent ambiguity.
 
A classical example is the Old English "hām" (home) and "ham" for the cured thighs of a beast cf. OHG  hamma and the old name Hammaburg for Hamburg you mentioned above. What is interesting in all of this, is that in addition to the Arab correspondences to the Germanic mentioned so far, there is yet  more baffling coincidences. Consider the following Arabic terms:
 
Lisan al-Arab dictionary gives the following definition: 
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الليث: الحَماةُ لَحْمة مُنْتَبِرَة في باطِنِ الساق. الجوهري: والحماة عَضَلَةُ الساق. الأَصمعي: وفي ساق الفرس الحَماتانِ، وهما اللَّحْمَتان اللتان في عُرْض الساق تُرَيانِ كالعَصَبَتَين من ظاهر وباطن، والجمع حَمَوات.
وقال ابن شميل: هما المُضْغَتان المُنتَبِرتان في نصف الساقين من ظاهر. ابن سيده: الحَماتان من الفرس اللَّحْمتان المجتمعتان في ظاهر الساقين من أَعاليهم
 
 
TRANSLATION:
 
- Arabic  h.amm / h.ama-h: the muscle of the shank of a human the corresponding part (commonly called the thigh) of a horse compare with Icel. höm the ham or haunch of a horse:
 
(to view the dictionary definition in English or French translated from the Arabic click below)
http://www.theegyptianchronicles.com/CULTURE/HAM3.html
 
-Arabic h.awam (h.am p.62) the right and left edges of the solid hoofs, the sides (edges or  borders) of a mountain.
 
Compare with
- hem (n.) O.E. hem "a border.
 
(to view the dictionary definition in English or French translated from the Arabic click below)
 
-  Arabic ghama, ghima' :  a covering, the roof of a house, the covering of a roof (consisting of clay, earth and wood), A covering that is put upon a horse in order that he may sweat.
 
(to view the dictionary definition in English or French translated from the Arabic click below)
Compare with: