hamm

hamm¹ ham, back of the knee

Pronunciation

• /xɑmm/, [hɑm]^[1]

Forms

hamm f (strong ō-stem; genitive singular hamme, nominative plural hamma)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the back of the knee is inherited from Proto-Germanic *hammō.^[1] Kroonen sets up a feminine noun “shank” varying between forms with single and double ⟨m⟩, with Old Norse hǫm “ham of a horse”, Middle Dutch hamme and Old High German hamma.^[2][3]

The double ⟨mm⟩ is usually derived from ⟨nm⟩ in Proto-Indo-European *konh₂-m-éh₂-;^[2] Kroonen explains the Old Norse single ⟨m⟩ by levelling within an n-stem paradigm.^[2] Holthausen compares Old Irish cnáim (“bone”) and Ancient Greek κνήμη (knḗmē, “shin”), and Köbler gives the same root for “shin, bone”.^[3][4][5] It is a strong feminine ō-stem.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in Bald's Leechbook, in a manuscript of the mid-tenth century: for a man whose feet shrink up to the ham, gebeþe þa hamma “let him bathe the hams” with a bath of heated stones.^[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

The word names the hollow behind the knee and glosses Latin “poples” and “suffrago”, and once homme renders “gamba”.^[8][9][4] Clark Hall cites it from the Leechdoms and the glossaries only.^[10]

It continued as Middle English hamme, the back of the knee or thigh, and as English ham, which came to mean the cured thigh of a hog in the seventeenth century.^[11][5]

Timeline

• s. x med. – gebeþe þa hamma in Bald's Leechbook.^[6][7]
• a1200 – Middle English hamme glossing “poplites” in a gloss on Sidonius.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. the ham, the hollow behind the knee.^[8][10][12]

Descendants

• Middle English hamme (→ English ham; Scots hamb; Scots ham)^[1]

hamm² enclosure, river meadow

Pronunciation

• /xɑmm/, [hɑm]^[1]

Forms

hamm m (strong a-stem; genitive singular hammes, nominative plural hammas)^[1]

Etymology

The word for an enclosed piece of land is inherited from Proto-Germanic *hammaz according to one view given by Wiktionary, perhaps related to *haimaz (“village”); the other derives it from *hamjaz, a noun from *hamjaną (“to hem in”), the source of hemman.^[1] Köbler sets up a Germanic noun “enclosure” and the root Proto-Indo-European *kem- (“to press, hinder”).^[13] Holthausen gives the cognates Old Frisian ham, Middle Low German hamme and Middle Dutch hamme, and connects it with hammen and the verb.^[3][1] It is a strong masculine noun.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word appears in the English bounds endorsed on a record of 824 concerning land at Easole in Kent: the bounds of Godmersham run to cyncges hamme and to stod hamme; the single sheet is of the ninth century and is held to be the original.^[14][7] The Parker Chronicle, from about 900, has the place-names Cippanhamme and Fullan homme.^[15][7]

Semantic evolution

The word belongs to the charters and place-names: a fenced or enclosed piece of land, pasture, a river meadow.^[10][8] Bosworth and Toller quote Kemble's view that, since it is so often joined with words for water, it was land fenced off against a stream.^[8] LangScape gives its main sense as land hemmed in by a river bend, which no single English word renders.^[16] The bounds name flax, mint, mill and water hammas.^[9]

It continued as Middle English hamme and survives in place-names in -ham.^[1]

Timeline

• 824 – cyncges hamme in the bounds of Godmersham, Kent, endorsed on a ninth-century single sheet.^[14][7]
• s. ix/x – Fullan homme in the Parker Chronicle.^[15][7]
• s. xi in. – on anan wyrtigan hamme “in a meadow full of plants” in Ælfric's Lives of Saints.^[17][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. an enclosure, a piece of fenced land; pasture.^[10][13]
2. land in a river bend, a water meadow.^[16][8]
3. a dwelling.^[10][12]

Word family

• fleaxhamm
• flōdhamm
• minthamm
• mylenhamm
• sċēaphamm
• stiġelhamm
• wæterhamm

Descendants

• Middle English hamme (→ English -ham)^[1]