THE SUFFIX “HAM” NOT EXCLUSIVELY DERIVED FROM A TEUTONIC SOURCE, BUT OCCASIONALLY ALSO FROM THE CELTIC.

By James Hurly Pring, M.D.

IN a former volume of The Antiquarian Magazine (vol. iii. p. 127) I pointed out that the place-name Hampton did not necessarily represent the Saxon “home-town,” as has so generally, yet erroneously, been assumed, but that the name is frequently derived also from Avon or rather Afon, the Celtic word for water or a river, and that it ought, therefore, strictly to be Afonton.

It was shown that this latter view was maintained by Camden, in evidence of which he cites Leland to prove that Hampton Court was anciently called Avon, as it appears in quoting from him the following lines:—

Here, then, and throughout the paper referred to, it will be seen that Ham is presented to us chiefly, if not solely, in its aspect as a prefix.

It is now my intention to proceed to consider it more especially as a suffix, in which use the instances of it are far more numerous than those in which it is employed as a prefix.

It would seem, then, as a suffix to be almost universally regarded as representing the Saxon “home,” and even Isaac Taylor himself gives no other than a Teutonic derivation for it.

True it is that in this derivation he makes a distinction, dividing it into the two forms of ham and ham, maintaining that the former signifies an enclosure, whilst the latter is “the Home.” Without venturing to question the accuracy of this distinction, it is to be regretted that (except, indeed, so far as may be guessed at from its associations) it leaves us without any rule whereby we may be enabled to distinguish the ham, the geheim or home, from ham an enclosure; whilst, as just stated, Taylor altogether omits to notice that there is yet another distinct source from which “ham” is derived, which is indeed in no respect Teutonic, but is clearly to be referred to the Celtic, as insisted upon both by Camden and by Leland.

The instances in which the termination-ham must be thus referred to the Celtic (as a Saxon corruption of the word Afon) are well marked and are by no means rare, and it is possible that some of those which have been regarded as examples of ham, an enclosure, may be found to belong rather to the Celtic derivation from Afon. As an illustration of ham in the latter aspect, I will at once refer to the class of examples of the word which is furnished by those large tracts of country which are or formerly were liable to inundation from the occasional overflow of some adjacent river (afon), and which have accordingly received the appellation of “hams”—that is, rich low-lying lands in the vicinity of rivers.

These extensive tracts of marsh-land cannot be supposed, especially at the very early period when the name of ham was imposed upon them, to have represented “an enclosure,” whilst their general character, and their liability to be frequently flooded, alike forbid the notion that the name of ham in this case was originally associated with a “home or dwelling.”

Each of these “hams,” then, I apprehend must be held to furnish a marked example of the derivation of its name from the Celtic Avon, as it will be found that the distinctive feature of a river is present in each of them, and in one case the river even still retains the original Celtic name of Avon.

As examples of some instances of the name occurring on the banks of the rivers in Somerset, we have the Loxton Hams, the Berrow Hams, the Paulet Hams with Otterhampton, which latter name, assuming its derivation to be Teutonic, should be the “Otter’s home-town”! Biddisham, Burnham, and Lympsham, the latter being the ancient Lyn-pils-ham, the rich pasture land by the creek of the Lyn or the River Axe, with many others.

Passing now into Devonshire we come upon the North Hams, and the South Hams—names which in this case cannot be held to represent either homes or enclosures, whilst water or rivers will be found to be conspicuously present in both instances.

In his review of “Risdon’s Survey of Devon,” 1785, Chapple refers to the North and South Hams as being “ancient names,” and states that the county of Devon had originally a threefold division, anciently known by the names of East, South, and North Hams (p. 116). This, however, is the only notice I have seen of the East Hams.

As one of the places comprehended in the district of the North Hams, we have Littleham, which Risdon regards as “Little Home,” assuming-ham in this case “to signify the same with home or habitation.”

But there is no reason to regard either this or Parkham or any of the other instances of the terminal-ham which are found here, as being referable to a Teutonic source, any more than is the case with the hams in Somerset, and as regards the instance of Northam itself, it is interesting to note that (except the omitted ton) we have here the actual name of Northam[p]ton, in which Camden expressly insists that the ham is afon.

If we now proceed to the South Hams, we reach an extensive tract of land presenting the same characteristic features as those generally observed in connection with the name of Ham, where it occurs in the situations already alluded to, and which do not correspond either to an enclosure or a home.

We find it, for example, stated in Chapple that “about Teignmouth, Dartmouth, Totness, Modbury, Plymouth, Ashburton, and all those parts of the country which are called the South Hams, the lands are generally of a different kind from any of the former,” &c. (p. 20). Now it is manifest that such an extensive tract of country as that to which the term “South Hams” is here applied cannot possibly claim to be regarded in the light of a home, or an enclosure.

On investigating more closely the district known as the South Hams, it will be found to possess many points of special interest.

Here the name Ham, as associated with the presence of rivers, receives abundant illustration; a considerable portion of the South Hams lying between the rivers Dart and Erme, and through the centre of this runs the River Avon, which by its name lends confirmation to the view here maintained as to the occasional derivation of the name of Ham from the Celtic. Along the course of this river it will be seen that the names of ham and avon seem almost to alternate, or are at least promiscuously intermingled, thus affording additional evidence of their being cognate to each other, and of their common origin.

We have, for example, the name of Ham alone, and of Aveton (Avon-ton) alone, of Aveton (Avon-ton) Gifford, of Bickham, Topsham Bridge, Hendham, and further on of Avonneigh, and lastly of Bantham, occurring at the very mouth of the Avon.

Another feature of considerable interest in connection with the South Hams of Devon, and pointing in a direction confirmatory of the views here advanced, is the fact that the Cornu-British language continued in use in this district long after it had ceased to be spoken in the other parts of the surrounding country. This fact is noticed by Polwhele both in his “Historical Views of Devonshire,” 1791, and in his “History of Cornwall,” whilst Drew affirms that the Cornu-British was spoken here in the time of Edward I. (1272-1307). It is deserving of notice also that an interesting note by F. W. P. Jago in reference to this question has lately appeared in the second volume of the “Western Antiquary” (pp. 202, 203).

Without intending by any means to question the fact that in numerous instances the terminal-ham is derived from the Teutonic, and rightly bears the meaning of “home,” “habitation,” or “enclosure,” I deem it desirable, whilst on this subject, to draw attention to an interesting remark in reference to it which has been made by so high an authority as Mr. Benjamin Thorpe. In commenting on the fact that the Kentish kingdom was founded by adventurers from Jutland (if not actually by Hengist and Horsa), Mr. Thorpe proceeds to observe: “The termination-ham, so common in Kent and elsewhere in England, corresponding to the German heim, does not appear in Jutland, so far as my means enable me to ascertain.”[82]

The very general, indeed the almost universal reference of “ham” to a Teutonic origin, seems to invest this observation by Thorpe with peculiar interest, and I would venture accordingly to commend its consideration to all those who can discover in “ham” nothing else than the Saxon “heim,” “home,” or “dwelling.”

On the other hand, it must at once be admitted that the derivation of “ham” from the Celtic Afon has received little or no recognition from the days of Camden down to the present time. In regarding it, however, from this point of view, enough it is presumed has now been said to rescue it for the future from this neglect, and to establish its title, in many cases at least, to be rightly and legitimately referred to the Celtic, as here contended for.