ONlwSG

cropan m. *[ˈkʰɾɔʰpan], gen. cropain *-[æɲ], in the sense ‘deformed person’ is derived by Mackay (1897, 92, s.v. croppan) from Ice. kroppin [sic] ‘crippled’, cf. Ice. kroppinn ‘crippled, crooked’ (Cleasby 1874). Mackay seems likely to be the source of the Gaelic word (cropan ‘deformed person’) in both MacBain 1911 (where it is derived from ‘Norse kroppinn “deformed” ’) and Dwelly 1911. McDonald (2009, 378) considers the Norse loan likely.

De Vries (1962, s.v. kroppinn) has ON kroppinn yielding Ir. crap, citing Marstrander (1915a, 138): Marstrander sees ON kroppinn as the etymon of Ir. crup- ‘contract, shrink’ etc.: (p. 40) citing Norw. dial. kroppen; (p. 128) citing ON kroppinn; (p. 138–39) discussing the use of Ir. crap- ‘shrivelled’ in compounds); s.v. crap.

^,

SG cropan in the sense ‘deformed person’ is not the same word as SG cropan in the sense ‘a wen [i.e. a lump or swelling on the skin]’, listed by Lhuyd (1700, p. 153 XIV.112) for Argyllshire as kròppan, and with which Lhuyd’s editors (p. 155) compare Scots knoop ‘idem’ (DOST^˄, s.v. knop; SND^˄, s.v. knop, knoup). Lhuyd 1700 (published in 1963) seems likely to be the source of Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄’s entry ‘cropan “a wen” (S[outh [Arg[yll])’, submitted by the contributor in 1967.

The Old Norse adjective kroppinn derives from the past participle (kroppinn) of the strong verb *kreppa (cf. Nn. kreppe, past tense krapp, past participle kroppe/-i (Haugen 1984)), otherwise only attested in Old Norse as the weak verb kreppa ‘to squeeze together, press; bend, tie together; press (someone) hard’ (NO, cf. Ice. kreppa ‘to clench, pinch, press hard on one’ (Cleasby 1874)), and yields Scots croppen ‘bent, twisted, contracted, shrunk’ (SND^˄). SG cropan may be a loan-blend from Scots croppen, with the final Scots -en -[ən] adapted to the Scottish Gaelic diminutive suffix -an -[an], rather than from ON kroppinn itself. However, the formation of a noun from an adjective in this way is unusual, and, assuming that Mackay’s information is correct, a Gaelic formation from SG crap (also crup) ‘to shrink; bend etc.’ (s.v) + suffix, and with a ~ o alternation, might also be considered.