Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village.[1][2] This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement.
This article is about the type of settlement. For other uses, see Hamlet (disambiguation).
Sometimes a hamlet is defined for official or administrative purposes. In that case, its size relative to a parish or other administrative unit will depend on the administration and region.
The word and concept of a hamlet can be traced back to Norman England, where the Old French hamelet came to apply to small human settlements.
Etymology[edit]
The word comes from Anglo-Norman hamelet, corresponding to Old French hamelet, the diminutive of Old French hamel meaning a little village. This, in turn, is a diminutive of Old French ham, possibly borrowed from (West Germanic) Franconian languages. It is the equivalent of the modern French hameau, Dutch heem, Frisian hiem, German Heim, Old English hām, and Modern English home.[3]
By country[edit]
Afghanistan[edit]
In Afghanistan, the counterpart of the hamlet is the qala (Dari: قلعه, Pashto: کلي) meaning "fort"[4] or "hamlet".[5] The Afghan qala is a fortified group of houses, generally with its own community building such as a mosque, but without its own marketplace. The qala is the smallest type of settlement in Afghan society, outsized by the village (Dari/Pashto: ده), which is larger and includes a commercial area.
Canada[edit]
In Canada's three territories, hamlets are officially designated municipalities.[6] As of January 1, 2010: