In
England and
Scotland, a toft village is a
settlement comprising small and relatively closely packed farms (tofts) with the surrounding land owned and farmed by those who live in the village's buildings. Late
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
''toft'', with
Old English declension (plural) ''toftas'' > tofts. ''Toft'' as a
placename element is usually dated to the
Viking Age by place-name historians.
Placenames ending in ''-toft'' are usually of
Old Norse derivation, ''topt'' meaning "site of a house".
[''English Etymology'', T. F. Hoad, Oxford University Press 1993.] Examples are
Langtoft,
Habertoft,
Huttoft,
Knaptoft,
Lowestoft
Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...
,
Newtoft
Toft Newton is a civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It consists of the small villages of Toft next Newton and Newton by Toft, and the hamlet of Newtoft. It is west from Market Rasen. According to the 2001 C ...
,
Scraptoft,
Sibbertoft,
Stowlangtoft,
Wibtoft,
Yelvertoft and various places simply called
Toft
Toft may refer to:
People
* Albert Toft (1862–1949), English sculptor
* Alfonso Toft (1866–1964), English pottery artist
* Christian Toft (born 1968), Danish Olympic swimmer
* Claude Toft (1922–1981), Irish politician and Mayor of Galway ...
in the former
Danelaw. This typical Old Norse element allows estimation of the extension of Scandinavian settlements in the
Middle Ages such as in
Schleswig-Holstein (''-toft'' :
Langstoft,
Havetoft
Havetoft is a municipality in Schleswig-Flensburg district, in northern Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, an ...
,
Koltoft,
Goltoft
Goltoft is a village and a former 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 is the second most populo ...
,
Kaltoft...),
Normandy (''-tot'' :
Lanquetot,
Colletot
Colletot () is a commune in the Eure department in northern France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Eure department
The following is a list of the 585 communes of the Eure department of France.
The communes cooperate in the following ...
,
Caltot,
Hottot,
Hotot...), etc.
References
Rural geography
Human habitats
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