# Question about DENMARK **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 28, 2000, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-denmark/7890 "2000-02-28T17:54:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![egkelly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/db5fbb/32.png) [@egkelly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/egkelly)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2000, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-denmark/7890/1 "2000-02-28T17:54:00Z")
I love the country of Denmark, and have been there many times. The people are very nice, and the country is clean and very safe. It is small, but varied. Anyway, never having mastered the (very difficult for me) Danish language, I have a question for you Danes out there-there seem to be a lot of place names ending in “-up”-eg. ballerup, tastrup, etc.-what does this suffix mean? ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2000, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-denmark/7890/2 "2000-02-28T23:59:00Z")
I dunno, but thank god for Peter-up Schmeichel-up. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-denmark/7890/3 "2000-02-29T04:31:00Z")
… however, as a Celtic fan, I could have done without Brian Laudr-up … * * * “Shut up! I’m having a rhetorical conversation!” ---
**Author:** ![Moonshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Moonshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonshine)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-denmark/7890/4 "2000-02-29T11:18:00Z")
…mostly harmless… * * * It only hurts when I laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-denmark/7890/5 "2000-02-29T21:26:00Z")
[http://dictionaries.travlang.com/DanishEnglish/dict.cgi?query=up&max=50](http://dictionaries.travlang.com/DanishEnglish/dict.cgi?query=up&max=50) I looked at a couple of on-line dictionaries including the above, and I couldn’t find anything. Anyway, I think the syllable is _rup_, and it probably means stream or town or something. Maybe it means row. I’m grasping at straws here because I’m supposed to know some Danish. And what other use does that language have other than describing various kinds of herring? * * * Any similarity in the above text to an English word or phrase is purely coincidental. ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-denmark/7890/6 "2000-02-29T21:45:00Z")
Might be a cognate of -thorpe, which appears in a lot of English place names, especially in the northern area once under Danish rule. No idea what it means. ---
**Author:** ![rlbrown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/34f0e0/32.png) [@rlbrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rlbrown)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2000, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-denmark/7890/7 "2000-03-01T00:56:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Boris B: > \*\* [http://dictionaries.travlang.com/DanishEnglish/dict.cgi?query=up&max=50](http://dictionaries.travlang.com/DanishEnglish/dict.cgi?query=up&max=50) > > I looked at a couple of on-line dictionaries including the above, and I couldn’t find anything. Anyway, I think the syllable is _rup_, and it probably means stream or town or something. Maybe it means row. > > \*\* In Norwegian, “rud” means farm. So someone named Kolsrud would be from Kol’s farm.