Page:A Lexicon of Medieval Nordic Law (OBP.0188, 2020).pdf/533

General

• jorþ (OSw) , jorth (ODan) , jörð (ON) n.
  • 1) earth, 2) ground, soil, land for a specific purpose, 3) cultivated land and 4) immovables, property
  • Refs: CV s.v. jörþ; Herzberg's.v. jörþ; Lund's.v. iorþ; Schlyter's.v. jorþ.
• land (OSw, ODan, ON) n.
  • 1) arable land, 2) province, kingdom, 3) ground, 4) shore, 5) property, 6) countryside as opposed to town and 7) parcel of land. As a place-name element it means large island or peninsula i.e. Öland. Langeland, Lolland. Refs: Brink 2008b, 99, 106; CV land; Herzberg's.v. land; KLNM s.v. -land; Lund's.v. land; Ruthström 2002, 118–28; Schlyter's.v. land.
• mark (OSw, ODan) , mörk (ON) n.
  • The word form mark n. represents three homonyms: 1) mark 'mark, sign; border mark, boundary line'; 2) mark 'unit of weight and coinage', 3) mark 'forest, wood; outlying field, outland'. For homonyms 2 and 3 the ON standard form is mörk. The oldest sense of the neuter mark and the feminine variant mark (the latter originally collective plural) was 'border/boundary mark'. Since forests often functioned as borderland the word mark (both neuter and feminine) also came to mean 'forest, wood', and (by extension) 'land, field'.
  • Refs: Bjorvand 1994, 79−80, 158−59; 2007, 722; Brink 2008b, passim; CV s.v. mörk; Fritzner's.v.v. mörk, mǫrk; KLNM s.v.v. -mark, mark, rågång, utmark; Schlyter's.v. mark. See also Appendix C.
• ingærþis , ingierþis (OSw) adv.
  • Refers to land 'within enclosure'. Cultivated fields, meadows and some areas used for grazing would be fenced in. The use of this land in Sweden was characterized by annual cropping and intensive use. The main part of the food supply originated in the land 'within enclosure'.
  • See also garþer, gærþi.
  • Refs: KLNM s.v. ager sp. 37–38; Myrdal 1999, 125–30.
• utgærþis (OSw) adv., utjorth (ODan) n., útjörð (OIce) n.
  • Refer to land 'outside the enclosure'. Outside the enclosure were moorland, woodland and forest land. The use of this land in Sweden was characterized by versatile use and expansion of farmland. See also ollandæ (ODan), utlænde (ODan) commented below under aker.
  • In ON it is used of tenant estates and is equated with ON leiguból (cf. Rafnsson 1985, 153). Útjarðir were also the parcels of land which could be inherited by women, whereas sons received the 'primary estate' (höfuðból) according to Jó Kge 7.
  • Refs: KLNM s.v. utmark; Myrdal 1999, 125–30; 2011, 77–97; Rafnsson 1985, 153. See also almænninger.

Diagram 2. Illustration of the sematic scope of words in the laws denoting inhabited areas. Diagram produced by Inger Larsson.