Waltham

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A place name for several towns, most notably a town in Massachusetts and a historic market town in Essex, England
2. The name of a town in the United States and of a market town in England with a notable abbey
3. Refers to a town in Massachusetts or a historic English town in Essex known for its abbey and forest

Etymology: Waltham is a place name rather than a common word, and its story is one of English landscape. It combines Old English "weald", meaning forest, with either "hām", meaning homestead, or "hamm", meaning enclosed land. The two possible second elements are not the same: a "hām" is a home or farmstead, while a "hamm" is a piece of land hemmed in by water or higher ground. So the name points to a settlement in or beside a forest, with the second part describing either the dwelling or the enclosure. The "weald" element is the more revealing one. In the Old English period, the wealden was a dense woodland region, and the word survives today in the name of the Weald of Kent and Sussex. Many English towns with names ending in "-ham" or "-hamm" were settled in clearings within such woods, which explains why this pattern recurs across the country. Waltham thus records a medieval clearing carved out of thick forest.