Emily Dickinson Lexicon

HAM, n. [Sax. ham, a house, is our modern word home, G. heim.]

It is used in hamlet, and in the names of places, as in Waltham, wood-house, walt, a wood, and ham, a house, (not Wal-tham, as it is often pronounced,) Bucking-ham, Notting-ham, Wrent-ham, Dur-ham, &c.