Atop means right on the very top of. Atop the hill, perched atop, atop a pile of books.
It is compact and slightly literary, which is why journalists like it — atop does in one word what on top of does in three. It takes an object directly, with no of. Note that it is a- plus top, built like ahead, aboard and asleep, where the a- is an old worn-down form of on.
1prepositionatopRight on the very top of.
“A small cottage sat atop the hill, with smoke rising from its chimney.”
atop is a preposition of position.
Proto-Germanic
*tuppaz — braid, pigtail, end
Proto-West Germanic
*topp
Old English
topp — top, highest part; summit; crest; tassel, tuft; (spinning) top, ball; a tuft or ball at the highest point of anything
Middle English
top
English
top
English, today
atop
From a- + top. top comes from Middle English top, toppe, from Old English topp (“top, highest part; summit; crest; tassel, tuft; (spinning) top, ball; a tuft or ball at the highest point of anything”), from Proto-West Germanic topp, from Proto-Germanic tuppaz (“braid, pigtail, end”), of unknown ultimate origin. Compare typologically apex (<< h₂ep- (“to join, attach, fasten, fit”)). Cognate with stq Top (“top”), cim sòpf (“braid”), Dutch top (“top, summit, peak”), German Topp (“top of a mast”), {{m|de|
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA