Dorf

See also: dorf

German

Doublet of Truppe (English troop). Cognate with Old Dutch thorp (modern Dutch dorp), Old Saxon thorp, Old English þorp (archaic English thorp).

IPA^(key): /dɔrf/, [dɔʁf], [dɔrf], [dɔɐ̯f], [dɔːf]
In parts of western Germany, the /f/ is commonly voiced to /v/ in derivatives from placenames (like Düsseldorfer, düsseldorfisch), but not in forms of the common noun.
Audio: (file)
Audio: (file)
Rhymes: -ɔʁf

Dorf n (strong, genitive Dorfes or Dorfs, plural Dörfer, diminutive Dörfchen n or Dörflein n)

village (rural habitation of size between a hamlet and a town)
- 1903, Fanny zu Reventlow, Ellen Olestjerne, in Franziska Gräfin zu Reventlow: Gesammelte Werke, Albert Langen, page 551:
  Vor ihnen lag das Dorf mit seinen Strohdächern und dem niedrigen, stumpfen Kirchturm.
  In front of them was the village with its thatched roofs and the small, flat church steeple.
(figurative) backwater (remote place; somewhere that remains unaffected by new events, progresses, ideas, etc.)

Dorf can be construed with auf or in. The predominant usage is as follows:
- The expressions auf dem Dorf, aufs Dorf refer generically to villages as such, to village life. For example: Auf dem Dorf grüßen sich die Leute noch. (“In villages, people still greet each other.”) Er ist aufs Dorf gezogen. (“He’s moved to a village [rather than, say, a city].”)
- In any other context, in is the normal choice: Hier im Dorf grüßen sich die Leute noch. (“Here in our village, people still greet each other.”) Er ist in ein Dorf bei seiner Arbeitsstelle gezogen. (“He’s moved to a village near his place of work.”)

Declension of Dorf [neuter, strong]

¹Now rare, see notes.