Etymograph

English

croft

Croft comes from Old English croft ‘enclosed field’.

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150croft‘enclosed field’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1530same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150croft‘enclosed field’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1530same form

Earliest quotation: 1530, : Sir John Campbell of Glenurchy: “...to haue set and for malis and service...the four…”

The story

The noun is derived from Middle English croft, crofft, croffte, croofte, crofte (‘croft’), from Old English croft (‘enclosed field’); further etymology uncertain, but possibly from Proto-Germanic *kruftaz (‘a hill; a curve’), from Proto-Indo-European *grewb- (‘to bend; arch, crook, curve’); see also crop.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain. The English word is cognate with Middle Dutch kroft, krocht, crocht (‘high and dry land; a field on the downs’), Middle Low German kroch (‘enclosed piece of farmland or pasture’), Scots croft, craft (‘croft’).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *grewb- ‘to bend’

crop, cripple, croup, 6 more

Today it means

noun An enclosed piece of land, usually small and arable and used for small-scale food production, and often with a dwelling next to it; in particular, such a piece of land rented to a farmer (a crofter), especially in Scotland, together with a right to use separate pastureland shared by other crofters.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Old English croft / croft

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