Settlement names ending in ‑torp, ‑drup, ‑rup and ‑trup

Among the Danish settlement names, the torp-names are the most numerous. Today, most of the torp-names end in ‑drup, ‑rup and ‑trup, e.g. Pandrup, Hunderup and Stenstrup. On Lolland, the torp-names may even end in ‑tolpe, e.g. Udstolpe.

The word torp has the meaning 'outlying settlement,' and in this way, the torp-names denote settlements, single farms and villages, that have moved out from a mother settlement. The main part of the torp-names is from the Viking Age, and there are in fact a great number of place names of this type in the Danelaw and in Normandy.

Many of the torp-names are formed with personal names, and from rune inscriptions we know that many of these personal names are from the Viking Age, e.g. the male name Svend in Svendstrup. There are, however, also torp-names formed with personal names and other words introduced into the Danish language with Christianity, e.g. Munkerup 'the torp belonging to/used by monks.' This means that torp-names were not only formed in the Viking Age, but also in the Early Middle Ages.