In studying, therefore, the land system in Roman provinces, we must not forget that we are studying what, though Roman, may have been subject to barbarian influences. In studying, on the other hand, the German tribal system, it is no less important to remember that some German customs may betray the results of centuries of contact with Roman rule. II. THE CONNEXION BETWEEN THE SAXON 'HAM,' THE GERMAN 'HEIM,' AND THE FRANKISH 'VILLA.' It would be unwise to build too much upon a mere resemblance in terms, but we have seen that the Saxon words generally used for manor were '_ham_' and '_tun_.' [p254] We have seen how King Alfred, in the remarkable passage quoted in an earlier chapter, put in contrast the temporary log hut on lænland with the permanent hereditary possession--the '_ham_' or manor. This latter was, as we have seen, the estate of a manorial lord, with a community of dependants or serfs upon it, and not a village of coequal freemen. Hence the word _ham_ did not properly describe the clusters of scattered homesteads in the Welsh district. In King Alfred's time Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, and even parts of Wiltshire were still, as already mentioned, regarded as Welsh. They formed what was known as West Wales. The manorial system had encroached far into them, but it would seem that the phraseology of the earlier system had not yet wholly disappeared. King Alfred in his will carefully abstained from applying the word _ham_ to his numerous possessions in these districts. He disposed in his will of more than thirty separately named estates in this West Welsh district, but he invariably used, in describing them, the word 'land'--the _land_ or the _landes_ at such and such a place;--and he concluded this part of his will with the statement, 'These are all that I have in _Wealcyne_, except in _Truconshirie_' (in Cornwall). Then in the rest of his will King Alfred disposed of nearly as many estates in the south-east or manorial districts of England, and here he immediately changed his style. It was no more the _land_, at this place and that, but the _ham_ at such and such a place.[339] In the old English translation of the will given in the _Liber de Hyda_ [p255] 'land' is rendered by 'lond' and 'ham' invariably by '_twune_.'[340] Thus without saying that the words _ham_ and _tun_ always were used in this sense, and could be used in no other, they were generally at least synonymous with _manor_. As late as the time of Bede, the suffix 'ham' or 'tun' was not yet so fully embodied with the names of places as to form a part of them. In the Cambridge MS. of his works 'ham' is still written as a separate word. «The German _heim_.»