Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Þæcham c.954 EHD c.1400 ASWills c.971 12th

• Taceham 1086 DB

• Taccheham c.1225 BM 1202 Ch 1227

• Tacheam 1168,1170 P 1202 Ch 1227

• Tacham 1224–5 Ass 13th ReadingC(2) 1241,1284 Ass

• Thacheham c.1125 BM

• Thacham 1212 Fees

• Thatcham 1224–5 Ass 1316 FA

• Thacheam 1342 Pat

• Techam 1142–84 ReadingC l.12th P 1198 Ass 1224–5,1241

• Thecham 1242–3 Fees 13th ReadingC 1284 Ass

Etymology

A compound of þæc 'thatch' either with hām 'village' (referring to the thatched roofs of the settlement) or hamm 'river-meadow' (referring to a meadow where thatching material was obtained). Cf. Thatcham Gl 3, 16. The forms show no sign of hamm , but the village overlooks marshy ground by the Kennet, and the compound *þæcc - hamm is well-attested elsewhere (cf. O 468–9).

Professor Löfvenberg comments that the only recorded form of the first el. is þæc , and that the assibilated form found in Thatcham is due either to influence of the verb þeccan , *þæccan or to the existence of a side-form *þæcce .