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.
_______________
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'.
_______________
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)
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.
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:
-
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:
-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: