Now north. dial. Forms: 1 þofta, 4 thoffte, 4– thoft, 9 Sc. thaft (Shetl., I. of Man taft, taff). [OE. þofte (wk. fem.), = ON. þopta (Norw., Da. tofte), OHG. dofta; MLG., LG. ducht, whence Ger. ducht (duft), MDu. dofte, dochte, Du. doft:—OTeut. *þuftô:—Indo-Eur. *tuptâ, f. root *tup to squat, sit low. Also Gaelic tobhta from Lowland Sc. or Norse. See also THOUGHT2.
Þofta in quot. c. 1000 is either a scribal error for þoftan, or pl. of a str. fem. þoft.
It is remarkable that this word, which must have lived on in the north, should appear only once between 1336 and the 19th c.]
A rower’s bench; = THWART sb.2
c. 1000. Ælfric, Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 166/17. Transtra, scipsetl. Transtra, uel juga, þofta.
c. 1050. Suppl. Ælfric’s Voc., ibid., 182/5. Transtra, þoftan.
1307–8. Acc. Exch. K. R., Bd. 14 No. 14 (P.R.O.). In .C. bordis estricis emptis … ad faciendum inde Thoftes, Hurdys, et cotes pro dicta Bargia … xv. s. … In .vj. bordis emptis … ad ponendum sub Thoftis … iij. s.
1336. Acc. Exch. K. R., Bundle 19. No. 31. m. 6. Et in xiiij lignis emptis pro Thofftes inde faciendis precium cuiuslibet .vj. d.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, V. iii. 63 (Camb. MS.). The remanent of ye rowaris … Apon yair scyttis and thoftis all atanys Yair placis hynt. [Cf. Virg. V. 136 considunt transtris.]
1808–18. Jamieson, Thafts, the benches of a boat, on which the rowers sit.
1827. Blackw. Mag., XXI. 859. This waterman on one ‘thoft’ presenting the breadth of his oar before the wind and with the stream.
1834. H. Miller, Scenes & Leg., xvii. (1857), 251. One of the poor fellows tumbled over the thaft.
1876. Whitby Gloss., Thofts, the thwarts, or plank-seats across a boat.
1885. Runciman, Skippers & Sh., 21. Leapt lightly on the thoft.
1887. T. E. Brown, Doctor, 18 (I. of Man). Sortin them out On the taff.
1891. Burgess, Rasmie’s Büddie, 51 (Shetl.). Strik rouwin faider frae his taft.
1904. Eng. Dial. Dict., s.v. (Shetl.), In a boat the thoft where the mast stands is called the sailing thoft.
Comb. 1847–78. Halliwell, Thoft-fellow, a fellow oarsman. [Cf. 1874 Vigfusson, Icel. Dict., þȯpti, a bench-fellow.]
