Westhampton

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A place name referring to a small town or community in the United States, often a village on Long Island in New York
2. The name of a small American community, notably a village on Long Island in New York State
3. A proper noun naming a modest town in the United States, particularly one located on the south shore of Long Island

Etymology: Westhampton is a village on the south shore of Long Island, New York, and its name is a transplant from England. Settlers from Southampton on the English coast gave the name to a neighbouring community on Long Island, and the "west" was added to distinguish the new place from the older town that already bore the name. The English original is itself a compound: "Hampton" comes from Old English words meaning "homestead" or "village" with "ham," joined to "south" for the town's location on the southern coast of England. The Long Island village is therefore a double import. It follows the same pattern as many colonial American place names, where settlers reused familiar English names and added a directional or descriptive word to tell them apart. Westhampton sits west of Southampton on the island, which is where the name's logic comes from.