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.
Pitfalls
This overview of the most important Danish settlement names, provides a tool to place names in time. For instance it is now possible to ascertain that Hvessinge must be hundreds of years older than Glostrup although Hvessinge actually is a part of Glostup today.
However, many place names have a form in present time that does not immediately reveal from which words the name was originally formed. Some of these corrupt names look like other name types, and some have passed through independent changes. By examining the oldest written sources, it is often possible to see from which endings those names were formed originally.
Examples of this are Grænge on Lolland, which is an inge-name, and Klinting in Vestern Jutland, which is an um-name. Further to that Maglemer on Lolland is a tved-name, Gislev on Funen is originally formed from one word, and Græsted in Northern Zealand originally ended in ‑holt. In other words, a place name is never sure to consist of the words immediately obvious from the present day spelling.