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 are places in London called ham?
Ham is a place in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames on the River Thames. Its name derives from the Old English word Hamme meaning place in the bend in the river. Together with Petersham, Ham lies to the east of the bend in the river south of Richmond and north of Kingston.
Why are places called ham?
And this convention in English, that ‘ham,’ it essentially means a village. This place is a village, a place where people live. And to take it a step further that H-A-M, ham itself, in old English means ‘home,’ which is why it sort of doubles to mean village as well. So that word ham actually means home.
What does ham mean in British town names?
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).
What does ham mean in England?
homestead, village
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 ham slang for?
An actor who is overly theatrical – in other words, ‘overacts’ – is usually referred to as ‘ham’. He does such a bad job that the audience ends up laughing. The word is frequently used in everyday contexts to refer to someone who likes to draw attention to himself by being overly dramatic.
What does ham mean in London?
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 is everything called shire in England?
“Shire” is just the Anglo-Saxon equivalent of the old French word “county”, so Yorkshire, for example, means “County of York”.
Why do so many English towns end in Shire?
Many English counties now feature the suffix –shire, which derives from the old English scir. A shire refers to a division of land governed by a government official who became known as a ‘shire reeve’ or ‘sheriff’. Shires were often based around a prominent town or city.
Why do British cities end in Shire?
“-shire” is the suffix for counties in the UK. It derives from the Old English word ‘scir’ which meant something like ‘administration office’ or the territory associated with such an organisation. It was the area that the royal officer called a ‘sheriff’ (‘shire reeve’) was responsible for.
What does ham mean in Buckingham?
ham. This Old English word means ‘farm’ or ‘homestead’. Confusingly, the ‘h’ is usually silent and so the suffix is pronounced weakly as /əm/: Tottenham, Buckingham, Durham.
What does a ham girl mean?
n (Chiefly U.S.) an attractive girl employed by the management of a bar to befriend male customers and encourage them to buy drinks.
What does ham in Nottingham mean?
Originally Answered: what does -ham mean in English place names like Nottingham or Birmingham? The “ham” suffix in a place name is widely accepted to mean “home” or “settlement” from an etymological point of view, although it can also be interpreted as meaning “town” in a more modern sense.
What does ham mean in Ebonics?
Ham can be used to describe “a woman’s thighs, legs, or butt, [though the phrase] generally applies to the thighs [and] comes from the word ham, which is the thigh in a cut of pork.” And H.A.M., as an acronym, stands for “hard ass motherf*****s” — which is not necessarily a bad thing.
Is ham a nice place to live?
Surrounded by green space, this slice of south-west London offers a semi-rural feel that families love, and boasts one of the UK’s most-haunted properties — Ham House, its very own stately home. Many families moving to Ham have been priced out of more expensive Richmond, which lies to the north.
What does Bosh mean in London?
Interjection. bosh. (Britain) An expression of speedy and satisfactory completion of a simple or straightforward task.
What do the Brits call a garage?
Car park – n – Parking lot or parking garage.
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.
What part of England is most like the Shire?
They lived in and around Birmingham, including at the village of Sarehole, which, like the fictional Hobbiton, had a corn-grinding mill by the water. In a newspaper interview Tolkien fondly recalled the area, saying the Shire was “inspired by a few cherished square miles of actual countryside at Sarehole”.
Which English county is the richest?
Table
| Rank | County | GVA per capita |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greater London | £45,666 |
| 2 | Surrey | £45,000 |
| 3 | Greater Manchester | £21,002 |
| 4 | West Midlands | £19,778 |
What is the most isolated part of 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.