LL-L "Etymology" 2007.07.15 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L  -  15 July 2007 - Volume 01

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From: jonny <jonny.meibohm at arcor.de>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2007.07.14 (02) [E]

Beste Ron,

very interesting, what you showed up here:

> North Frisian heam 'hem', 'edge', 'border'
> Old Saxon ham 'meadow', 'nook', 'corner', 'bay' (< *'enclosed pasture')

In our neighbourhood we have some locations containing *-hemm*, like
'Hemmoor', and I always wondered about if this were a degenerated form of *
'-hamm'*.

But the meaning of 'edge', 'border' even would fit better than 'enclosed
meadow', and this could be another hint for early Frisian influences in our
region (but also a hint that in these possibly very early times there
weren't  big differences between Old Saxon and Old Frisian).

But- things are tricky: what about the old Frisian ending -'hem', which is
supposed to have changed to  '-um'  now in many location names (like in
'Midlum', Pewsum', 'Belum'...)? Isn't it  earlier interpreted as E: 'home',
['village'], G. '-heim'? So it might be one 'family': *'hamm', 'hemm',
'heim', 'home'*...- all of them denoting a certain state of settlement, as
you showed also here:
> Indo-European *kem- 'to enclose with wickerwork (> fence)'

So at the last 'Hamburg' could be a pleonasm: 'fortified fortress'...

Allerbest!

Jonny Meibohm

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology

Thanks, Jonny.

Although there may have been confusion and overlapping of the "ham" and
"home" word groups, they do come from separate sources.

The "home" group comes from Indo-European k^ei- 'to lie', 'to be settled'.
Most of its Germanic heirs differ from the "ham" group's in that they have a
long vowel rather than a short one:

Old English: hām (> English "home", Scots hame [he:m])
Old Frisian: hām
Old Saxon: hēm

If all instances of -um in Frisian place names are derived from hām "home"
and not from ham "ham" is another matter.  I have no idea.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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