Etymology
The first term for the present city was following the reports of Claudius Ptolemy “Treva”. A fortress was named Hammaburg (where burg means fortress). The "Hamma" element remains uncertain. Old High German includes both a hamma, "angle" and a hamme, "pastureland". The angle might refer to a spit of land or to the curvature of a river. However, the language spoken might not have been Old High German, as Low Saxon was spoken there later. Other theories hold that the castle was named for the word of a surrounding vast forest, hammen. Hamm as a place name occurs a number of times in Germany, but its meaning is equally uncertain. It could be related to "heim" and Hamburg could have been placed in the territory of the ancient Chamavi. However, a derivation of "home city" is perhaps too direct, as the city was named after the castle. Another theory is that Hamburg comes from ham which is Old Saxon for “(grassy) river bank” or “meadow/pasture (by a river) ”.
Read more about this topic: History Of Hamburg
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