I looked in my Webster's Collegiate dictionary
which contains all the
obligatory swear words and racial slurs (so you know its compleat) and it
defines "thorp" (note, no 'e' in this dictionary's spelling) as a
village
or hamlet (archaic).
We have the Oxford English Dictionary online (nyah -- the OED is basically
the ultimate reference on strange English words or word origins, except for
new words or slang). It also defines thorp as a village. Interestingly, the
word "thorp" seems to be descended from a root that also gave us
"tribe".
I just thought I'd let you know that. :)
This question has come up quite a few times on USENET (on comp.dcom.telecom,
among other places). I've seen official-looking documents, but that's not to
say I remember them correctly. I'm not even sure I trust them (this may be
one of those questions with no completely good answer).
The comp.dcom.telecom archives have more info. I'm sure. I forget where they
currently live and I'm too lazy to look them up.
-- Derek