*þorp

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs a neuter noun *þorp.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *þurpą (“village; gathering”),^[2][3] which Kroonen cites as *þurpa-.^[4] EWA holds that *þurpa- is the only form the attested words require.^[3]

Morphology

A neuter a-stem.^[5][3] Old English has it as a masculine.^[6]

Evidence

The word is attested in all the West Germanic languages: Old English þorp or þrop,^[6] Old Frisian therp or thorp,^[7] Old Saxon thorp,^[8] Old Dutch thorp, recorded in Williram's commentary of about 1100,^[9] and Old High German dorf.^[3] Old Saxon also has tharp and throp.^[5] In Old High German the word named a rural, mostly farming settlement, usually a group of houses, as against the fortified or larger burg.^[3] EWA adds Frankish *þrop (“herd”), with metathesis from *þorp, latinised as Medieval Latin troppus in the Lex Alamannorum, of 712 to 725, and the source of French trop, recorded from the 11th century and originally meaning "a quantity of something".^[3]

Competing analyses

The Old Saxon and Old Frisian forms with a and e have been taken for separate ablaut grades.^[3] Boutkan and Siebinga derive Old Frisian therp and Old Saxon tharp from *þarpa-, which they explain as a metathesis of *þrapa- in the north-western part of West Germanic, against the southern *þurpa- of thorp; they reconstruct Proto-Germanic *þurpa- and *þrapa-, or perhaps *þarpa-.^[10] EWA finds such ablaut forms unnecessary, because in North Sea Germanic o became a before r, and therp can come from tharp by a > e before r and a consonant.^[3] The f of Old High German thorf is a further shift of the affricate, not a trace of a variant root form.^[3]

Kroonen finds the connection with Lithuanian trobà (“cottage, farmhouse”) and Old Irish treb (“hamlet, village”) straightforward, but holds that the word cannot be separated from Old Norse þyrpast (“to crowd, throng”), so that Germanic kept an original meaning "to gather".^[4] Boutkan and Siebinga suspect a loan from a North European substrate, since the cognates are found only in Italic, Celtic, Baltic and perhaps Greek.^[10] EWA explains the senses "field", "meeting place", "pen" and "herd" of Old Norse þorp and Frankish *þrop from settlements grouped together for safety.^[3]

Meanings

1. village, rural settlement^[1][3]
2. gathering of people^[1][4]
3. cleared land^[1][7]

Old English used the word for "estate, farm, village",^[6] and for an enclosed meeting place of farmers;^[3] Kroonen glosses it "crowd".^[4] Old Frisian also used it for "farmland" and "fallow land",^[7] and Old High German for "farm, estate" and a quarter of a town.^[3]

Reflexes

• Old English: þorp (“estate, farm, village”)^[6]
• Old Frisian: therp (“village, farmland, fallow land”)^[7]
• Old Saxon: thorp (“village, place, estate”)^[8]
• Old Dutch: thorp (“village, estate”)^[11]
• Old High German: dorf (“village, farm, estate, quarter of a town”)^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *þorp
2. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *þurpą
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. s.v. dorf
4. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 553
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. thorp
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. þorp
7. ^ a b c d Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. therp
8. ^ a b Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. thorp
9. ^ Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. thorp
10. ^ a b Boutkan, Dirk; Siebinga, Sjoerd Michiel (2005), Old Frisian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 1, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. therp
11. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. thorp