croft

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See also: Croft

English[edit]

WOTD – 25 October 2019

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]
Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

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[edit]
Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

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[edit]

croft (plural crofts) (archaic)

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

Etymology 3[edit]

A variant of carafe.[7]

Noun[edit]

croft (plural crofts)

  1. (archaic) A carafe.

References[edit]

  1. ^ “croft, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 16 August 2019.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 “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. ↑ 5.0 5.1 “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[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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[edit]

Noun[edit]

croft (plural croftes)

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

Descendants[edit]

  • English: croft
  • Scots: croft, craft

References[edit]

  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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