 The word is cognate with the Anglo-Saxon "thorp" or "thorpe" (a secondary settlement or small group of houses in the countryside), which is found in many English placenames, and its meaning in Swedish has shifted over time.Before the 16th century, a "torp" was a separate farm, usually established by a farmer who had moved out from a village, and which often grew to become a village in its own right.In 16th century Sweden, which at that time included Finland, a "torp" was the term for the smallest size of farm, paying a quarter of a "full" farm's taxes.