English
crop
Crop comes from Old English cropp ‘the head or top of a plant, a sprout or herb,…’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *kruppaz ‘body, trunk, crop’.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kruppaz‘body, trunk, crop’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kroppreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150cropp‘the head or top of a plant, a sprout or herb, a bunch or cluster of flowers’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500crop
- Englishearliest quotation 1871same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kruppaz‘body, trunk, crop’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kroppreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150cropp‘the head or top of a plant, a sprout or herb, a bunch or cluster of flowers’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500crop
- Englishearliest quotation 1871same form
Earliest quotation: 1871, George MacDonald, The Early Bird: “A little bird sat on the edge of her…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *grewb- ‘to warp, bend, crawl’
through Proto-Germanic *kruppaz ‘body, trunk, crop’
Another origin of crop
- Old Englishc. 450–1150*croppianreconstructed
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500croppen‘to cut, pluck and eat’
- Englishtodaycrop
Literally, to take off the crop (top, head, ear) of a plant.
Today it means
noun A plant, grown for it, or its fruits or seeds, to be harvested as food, livestock fodder, or fuel or for any other economic purpose.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *kruppaz / crop