Etymology

Derived from < PGmc *þurpan (cp. also Go þaúrp 'land, field, lived-on property', OFris thorp, therp 'village, estate', OS thorp, OHG dorf), the English variant of this n. without metathesis, as opposed to reflexes of OE þrop 'farm, village', is now usually explained as a loan from ON, cp. OIcel þorp 'hamlet, village'. Its distribution in Danelaw place-names in particular makes it very likely that þorp represents the Scandinavian cognate rather than the native n. (see further SPS 64 with references and EPNE).

PGmc Ancestor

*þurpan

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

þorp 'hamlet, village'
(ONP þorp (sb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far torpur, Icel þorp, Norw torp, ODan torp, OSw þorp, Sw torp

OE Cognate

þrop 'farm, village'

Phonological and morphological markers

[

absence of metathesis

] (possibly diagnostic)

Summary category

C2abc

Attestation

The variant without metathesis is attested in Danelaw place-names from OE charters onwards, and as a common n. in texts from a1121 Peterb.Chron. (LdMisc 636), alongside ongoing instances of the native form.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Cl 1178; WA 1803

Bibliography

MED thorp (n.) , OED thorp (n.) , HTOED , SPS 63-4, de Vries þorp (1), Mag. þorp (1), Orel *þurpan, Kroonen *þurpa-, AEW đorp, đrop,  EPNE þorp