Ham in OE is cognate with the Old Norse "heim", which means home. As you can
see, heim and ham are similar, but not exactly the same. AFAIK, ham excisted
in OE before the norsemen came to Britain. Other germanic languages also
have this word, e.g. modern German Heim. This word is probably very old.

Terje

>From: "William Calhoun" <kubrick36@...>
>Reply-To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
>To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: RE: [norse_course] Jed re Eric Gass and 'ham'
>Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 22:00:59 -0500
>
>
>hamlet:
>Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French hamelet, diminutive of ham
>village, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English hAm village, home
>Thanks to Merriam-Webster OnLine
>If ham (or rather hamlet) is of Germanic origin than perhaps it did come
>from Norse to Engl.ish through Middle French. The Norse Vikings did indeed
>raid medieval France and were the founders of Normandy, where Old Norse
>mixed a tiny bit with French (I believe there is a French word for 'ring'
>similar to and rooted in the Old Norse 'baugr'). Normans were Norse that
>assimilated into French culture. I don't know if that helps!
>-Willliam
>
>
>
> >From: "Gerald Mcharg" <Gerald.Mcharg@...>
> >Reply-To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
> >To: <norse_course@yahoogroups.com>
> >Subject: [norse_course] Jed re Eric Gass and 'ham'
> >Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 22:55:56 -0000
> >
> >Eric
> >
> >I'm not too sure about place-names in 'ham' having a Norse derivation.
> >
> >I believe that 'ham' is one of the earlier place-name elements to be
>found
> >in Old English charters of the seventh century; 'tons' as a rule, occur
>in
> >later charters.
> >If anyone is interested in this, the authorities to consult are Joliffe,
> >Stenton and Granville.
> >
> >I haven't really looked at the distribution of 'hams' in Britain, so I
> >can't say whether they predominate in the north. I do know that they
>occur
> >far less frequently than the 'ton' settlements and that the implications
>of
> >this could be that they were early administrative or political centres
>for
> >their respective regions.
> >
> >Anyhow, if there is a chance for an informed discussion on this, I would
> >like to hear other opinions.
> >
> >Cheers
> >Jed Mc Harg
>
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