Teutonic Terminations. 



75 



w Glossary of the Frisian Language/' the following" statement : 

 " Ham applies to every enclosure by rampart, ditch, or hedge. 

 In the country of the Angles as well as in North Friesland 

 every enclosed place is called a hawim" And from another 

 authority he quotes these words : " Whatever obstructs or is 

 obstructed, Items in or is hemmed in, is called hamm or hemme, 

 whether it be a forest, a fenced field, a meadow, a swamp, 

 a reed-bank, or isolated lowlands won by circumscribing 1 with 

 palisades an area in the bed of a river ; indeed even a house, 

 or a castle, was so called by the Frisians. 1 



Ham, It is very important to distinguish between this word with 

 its accented vowel and that which has just been explained. 

 This word, as Kemble remarks, denotes " something far more 

 sacred and profound, and is the most intimately felt of all 

 the words by which the dwellings of man are distinguished." 

 From it is derived the word hoiman, which in its purest sense 

 signifies to " marry/'' and so represents to us the family itself, 

 and the sanctity of home, as well as the subsequent union of 

 several families. Kemble adds these important words : "Ham, 

 in its largest sense implies the general assemblage of the 

 dwellings in each particular district, to which the arable land 

 and pasture of the community were appurtenant, the home 

 of all the settlers in a separate and well-defined locality, the 

 collection of the houses of the freeman. Wherever we can 

 assure ourselves that the vowel is long, we may be certain that 

 the name implies such a village or community. " 2 



40. Wic. This word in composition usually means a dwelling- 

 place of one or more houses. The general idea would seem 

 to be that of a place fenced and fortified, shut in and so a 

 place of security. There are still woods and copses known 

 as wicks. In such words as Sand-Wc/^ it would seem to have 

 the sense of a " harbour." From this idea of harbour or 

 shelter comes the sense of camp, or village, or hamlet and 

 even of castle. In military history "they encamped" is 



1 Anglo-Saxon Names of Places, p. 39. 

 2 Cod. Dipl. iii., xxix 



