''Thorp'' is a

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

word for a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

or small village.

Etymology

The name can either come from

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

''þorp'' (also ''thorp''), or from Old English (Anglo-Saxon) ''þrop''. There are many place names in England with the

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

"-thorp" or "-thorpe". Those of Old Norse origin are to be found in

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, County Durham,

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, Lincolnshire,

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

, Norfolk, and

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

. Those of Anglo-Saxon origin are to be found in southern England from

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. Care must be taken to distinguish the two forms. Variations of the Anglo-Saxon suffix are "-throp", "-thrope", "-trop" and "-trip" (e.g.

Adlestrop Adlestrop () is a village and civil parish in the Cotswolds, east of Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, England, on the county boundary with Oxfordshire. The River Evenlode forms the southwest boundary of the parish. The village is on a stream ...

and

Southrope Southrope is a hamlet in the civil parish of Herriard, Hampshire. It has one pub, named the Fur and Feathers. The hamlet was once considered a part of the civil parish Bentworth, until the late 19th century. Its nearest town is Alton, which lie ...

). Old English (Anglo-Saxon) ''þrop'' is cognate with Low-Saxon ''trup''/''trop''/''drup''/''drop'' as in Handrup or

Waltrop Waltrop ( is a town in the Recklinghausen (district), district of Recklinghausen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on the Datteln-Hamm Canal, approximately 15 km east of Recklinghausen and 15 km north-west of Dortmund. ...

, Frisian ''

terp A ''terp'', also known as a ''wierde, woerd, warf, warft, werf, werve, wurt'' or ''værft'', is an artificial dwelling mound found on the North European Plain that has been created to provide safe ground during storm surges, high tides and ...

'', German ''torp'' or ''dorf'' as in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, the 'Village of the river Düssel', and

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

''dorp''. It also appears in Lorraine place-names as ''-troff'' such as Grosbliederstroff (France) in front of

Kleinblittersdorf Kleinblittersdorf (, , in contrast to " Big Blittersdorf"; ) is a village and a municipality in the district of Saarbrücken, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated on the river Saar, opposite Grosbliederstroff in France, approx. 10 km south ...

(Germany). It sometimes occurs in Normandy as Torp(s) / Tourp(s) / ''-tourp'' or even ''-tour'', for instance :

le Torp-Mesnil Le Torp-Mesnil is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. Geography A farming village situated in the Pays de Caux, some north of Rouen at the junction of the D55, D25 and the D106 roads. Populati ...

, le Tourp,

Clitourps Clitourps () is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. See also *Communes of the Manche department The following is a list of the 445 communes of the Manche department of France. The communes cooperate in ...

or Saussetour (Manche, ''Sauxetorp'' end 12th century, like

Saustrup Saustrup () is a municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to ...

, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, former ''Saxtorppe'' and ''Saxtorf'', former ''Saxtorpe'' 1538 idem, and

Saxthorpe Saxthorpe is a village in Norfolk, England. The village is west south west of Cromer and north north west of Norwich. The village lies south west of the town of Holt. It is in the civil parish of Corpusty and Saxthorpe. The village is pass ...

in Norfolk, England), all from Old Norse or Old English.

Use

"Thorp" as a word appears in some

role-playing games A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, eith ...

, where it is used to denote the smallest form of permanent collective habitation in the game world. Thorps in

Dungeons and Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rule ...

are defined as having between 20–80 inhabitants, while

Pathfinder Pathfinder, Path Finder or Pathfinders may refer to: Aerospace * ''Mars Pathfinder'', a NASA Mars Lander * NASA Pathfinder, a high-altitude, solar-powered uncrewed aircraft * Space Shuttle ''Pathfinder'', a Space Shuttle test simulator Arts and ...

defines them as having 20 or fewer. Hamlets are the next most populous, housing 81–400 or 21–60 people in the respective games.

Etymology

Use

References

See also