croft

See also: Croft

English
WOTD – 25 October 2019

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

The noun is derived from Middle English croft, crofft, croffte, croofte, crofte (“croft”),[1] from Old English croft (“enclosed field”); further etymology uncertain,[2][3] but possibly from Proto-Germanic *kruftaz (“a hill; a curve”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewb- (“to bend; arch, crook, curve”); see also crop. 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”).[2]

The verb is derived from the noun.[4]

Noun

croft (plural crofts)

  1. 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.
    Synonym: quillet
    • 1530: Sir John Campbell of Glenurchy (in a lease to his "weil belouit" servant John M'Conoquhy V'Gregour)
      ...to haue set and for malis and service...the four markland of Kincrakin...with the croft of Polgreyich and the croft that Ewin M'Ewin was wount to haue...
    • 1819 September 19, John Keats, “To Autumn”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, stanza 3, page 139:
      Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft / The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft; / And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

croft (third-person singular simple present crofts, present participle crofting, simple past and past participle crofted)

  1. (intransitive) To do agricultural work on one or more crofts.
  2. (transitive, archaic) To place (cloth, etc.) on the ground in the open air in order to sun and bleach it.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English croft, crofte, croufte, crufte (“crypt; vault”), from Old English cruft,[5] from Latin crupta, crypta (“crypt; vault”),[6] from Ancient Greek κρυπτή (kruptḗ), feminine form of κρῠπτός (kruptós, “concealed, hidden; secret”), from κρύπτω (krúptō, “to conceal, hide; to obscure”) (further etymology unknown) + -ος (-os). The English word is cognate with Middle Dutch croft, crocht, crochte, crogt, cruft, crufte (modern Dutch krocht (“underground cavity, cave; underground vault, crypt”)), Middle Low German krucht, kruft (“crypt”), Old High German cruft (Middle High German kruft (“cave; crypt”)).[5] Doublet of grotto and crypt.

Noun

croft (plural crofts) (archaic)

  1. An underground chamber; a crypt, an undercroft.
  2. A cave or cavern.
Derived terms
Translations
underground chamber — see crypt,‎ undercroft
cave or cavern — see cave,‎ cavern

Etymology 3

A variant of carafe.[7]

Noun

croft (plural crofts)

  1. (archaic) A carafe.

References
  1. “croft, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 16 August 2019.
  2. “croft, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1893.
  3. “croft, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  4. “croft, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1893; “croft, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  5. “croft, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2011.
  6. “crufte, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 16 August 2019.
  7. “croft, n.3”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1893.

Further reading

Anagrams

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old English croft, possibly from Proto-Germanic *kruftaz, from Proto-Indo-European *grewb- (“to curve, bend, crawl”), from *ger- (“to turn, wind”).[1]

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /krɔft/

Noun

croft (plural croftes)

  1. croft (small field)
  2. (by extension) enclosure, courtyard

Descendants
  • English: croft
  • Scots: croft, craft

References
  1. Pokorny, Julius (1959) “385-90”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, pages 385-90
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