Meaning
HAM, Sax.ham, a house, is our modern word home, G.heim. It is used in hamlet, and in the names of places, as in Walt-ham, 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.
HAM, n. The inner or hind part of the knee; the inner angle of the joint which unites the thigh and the leg of an animal. Hence,
1. The thigh of a beast, particularly of a hog, whether salted and cured or not. but the word is more generally understood to mean the thigh of a hog salted and dried in smoke.
