The Thames
place names mentioned in our early history and in that of Gaul had a similar termination. London itself is the best example.
If, however, we neglect this termination, and consider the first part of the words in which it occurs (as in Abing-don, Bensing-ton, Ea-ton, etc.), we shall find that most of the place names are Saxon in form, and some certainly Saxon in derivation.
Thus Ea-ton, a name scattered all along the Thames, from its very source to the last reaches, is the " tun " by the water or stream, Clif-ton (as in Clifton-Hampden) is the " ton " on the cliff, a very marked feature of the left bank of the river at this place. Of Bensing-ton, now Benson, we know nothing, nor do we of the origin of the word Abing-don.
The names terminating in " ham " are, in their termination at least, certainly Teutonic ; and the same may be true of most of those — but not all of those — ending in " ford." Ford may just as well be a Celtic as a Teutonic ending, and in either case means a " passage," a " going." It does not even in all cases indicate a shallow passage, though in the great majority of cases on the Thames it does indicate a place where one could cross the river on foot. Thus Wallingford was prob- ably the walled or embattled ford, and Oxford almost cer- tainly the " ford of the droves " — droves going north from E 33
