An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Dorf

by Friedrich Kluge

Dorf, neuter, ‘village, hamlet,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German dorf, neuter; an Old Teutonic word; compare Old Saxon thorp, Dutch dorp, Anglo-Saxon þorp, English thorp, throp (existing now only in proper names); Old Icelandic þorp, ‘hamlet’; Gothic þaúrp signifies ‘fields, land,’ while in the other dialects the Modern High German meaning of the word is current (in Gothic haims, ‘village’; see Heim). The meaning of Modern High German (Swiss) dorf, ‘visit, meeting,’ connected perhaps with Old Slovenian trŭgŭ, ‘market,’ deserves special notice. If the history of the word is rendered difficult by such variations of meaning, it is made still more so by the Keltic *tṛbo, ‘village’; Welsh tref, ‘village’ (to which the name of the Old Gallic tribe Atrebates is allied), also connected with Latin tribus, ‘tribe.’ Moreover, Old Icelandic þyrpa, ‘to crowd,’ is closely akin to Greek τύρβη, Latin turba, ‘band.’ Note too Anglo-Saxon þrĕp, þrôp, ‘village,’ Lithuanian trobà, feminine, ‘building.’