A house mark was originally a mark of property, later also used as a family or clan emblem, incised on the facade of a building, on animals, in

signet Signet may refer to: *Signet, Kenya, A subsidiary of the Kenyan Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), specifically set up to broadcast and distribute the DTT signals * Signet ring, a ring with a seal set into it, typically by leaving an impression in sea ...

and similar in the farmer and

burgher Burgher may refer to: * Burgher (social class), a medieval, early modern European title of a citizen of a town, and a social class from which city officials could be drawn ** Burgess (title), a resident of a burgh in northern Britain ** Grand Bu ...

culture of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

and

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and S ...

. These marks have the appearance of

glyph A glyph () is any kind of purposeful mark. In typography, a glyph is "the specific shape, design, or representation of a character". It is a particular graphical representation, in a particular typeface, of an element of written language. A g ...

s or

runes Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialised ...

consisting of a pattern of simple lines, without the application of colour.

Description

The form of house marks is based on function. They should be easy to cut, scratch or engrave with a knife or similar tool. At the same time, they should be distinctive and easy to remember. House marks differ from the more complicated patterns of a

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

or flags, which include surfaces and solid colors. House marks can be made from one or two lines and up to quite a complex pattern of line figures. Based on appearance, house marks resemble line figures in rock carvings and in early

writing system A writing system is a method of visually representing verbal communication, based on a script and a set of rules regulating its use. While both writing and speech are useful in conveying messages, writing differs in also being a reliable fo ...

s. It is unclear how extensively such ancient line figures were used as marks for people or property ownership. The basic forms of a house mark is often

, characters and numbers, stylized figures, international symbols like crosses, stars, and astrological or

astronomical Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxi ...

characters. One characteristic of house marks is that they may consist of a basic form with addition or deduction of lines. In this way, related people can have marks that resemble each other, but differ by details. This is equivalent to

cadency In heraldry, cadency is any systematic way to distinguish arms displayed by descendants of the holder of a coat of arms when those family members have not been granted arms in their own right. Cadency is necessary in heraldic systems in which ...

and adding

brisure In heraldry, cadency is any systematic way to distinguish arms displayed by descendants of the holder of a coat of arms when those family members have not been granted arms in their own right. Cadency is necessary in heraldic systems in whic ...

s as a method to change a coat of arms. Many house marks are placed in

shield A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of ...

-shaped frames. We see this in seals, on buildings and on tombstones, for both farmers and city dwellers in

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

areas, during the 1700s and 1800s. Some of these house mark shields also had color and approached the heraldic coat of arms.

History

The use of house marks dates back to long before literacy was common. The purpose of a house mark is to have a recognisable mark that a person, a nuclear family, multiple generations of an extended family or an owner of a property can use to mark objects,

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ...

, or buildings for recognition of ownership. Besides farmers, house marks have also been used by

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

tradesman A tradesman, tradeswoman, or tradesperson is a skilled worker that specializes in a particular trade (occupation or field of work). Tradesmen usually have work experience, on-the-job training, and often formal vocational education in contrast ...

artisan An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art ...

s, and other town burghers on for example

Bryggen Bryggen (''the dock''), also known as Tyskebryggen (, ''the German dock''), is a series of Hanseatic heritage commercial buildings lining up the eastern side of the Vågen harbour in the city of Bergen, Norway. Bryggen has been on the UNESCO lis ...

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, secon ...

, on building blocks in the

Nidaros Cathedral Nidaros Cathedral ( no, Nidarosdomen / Nidaros Domkirke) is a Church of Norway cathedral located in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county. It is built over the burial site of King Olav II (c. 995–1030, reigned 1015–1028), who became t ...

, and on personal

seals Seals may refer to: * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...

in other Norwegian cities. There are also house marks written by hand on documents, for instance house marks of

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...

workers at Røros. The Norwegian word or probably came from

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. There is no Norwegian reference before the 17th century. Today is mainly written as in Norwegian. Both in Denmark and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

, the word (with multiple spellings) is used since the 14th century and in the 16th century. In the

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

ic codes of law from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, one finds the word used to denote owner marks used to tag animals. It is likely that this word has also been used in Norway. In Finnish, the word ("insignia") means a distinguishing mark or sign used by illiterate persons as a replacement of a written signature in official documents.

References

Sources

; Norwegian: *

Sivert Aarflot Sivert Knudsen Aarflot (October 23, 1759 – April 14, 1817) was a Norwegian figure in popular education. He worked as a schoolteacher in Volda in the Sunnmøre district and then served as a ''lensmann''. Life Aarflot is known for his work in com ...

: Om nogle af Hovedkaraktererne iblandt de saakaldte gamlævis Bumærkji, som ellers heder Runebogstaver, Norsk Landboeblad 1811 * H. J. Huitfeldt-Kaas, Oluf Kolsrud et al.: ''Norske Sigiller fra Middelalderen'',

Kristiania Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population o ...

- Oslo 1899-1950 * Fredrik B. Wallem: En indledning til studiet af de nordiske bomærker, ''Årbok 1902 for Foreningen til Norske Fortidsminners Bevaring'', Kristiania 1903 * Johan Koren Wiberg: Bomerker og Innflyttere vedkommende Kontoret i Bergen, ''Det Hanseatiske Museums Skrifter Nr 10'', Bergen 1935 * Rikard Berge: «Bumerke», ''Vinje og Rauland'', Stavanger 1940, pages 348-354 * L. Strømme: ''Bumerke frå Sunnmøre'', Oslo 1943 * K. and Jon Haukanes: ''Segl og bumerke frå Hardanger'', Oslo 1944 * Hans Krag: ''Norsk heraldisk mønstring fra Fredrik IV’s regjeringstid 1699-1730'', bind II, Ålo 1955 * Hans Krag: Tømmermerker og bomerker, ''Heraldisk Tidsskrift'' 1/53, København 1960 * Hans Krag: Nogen norske seglmerker, ''Heraldisk Tidsskrift'' 1/157, København 1961 * Lars Kindem: ''Vossaboki 2'',

Voss Voss () is a municipality and a traditional district in Vestland county, Norway. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Vossevangen. Other villages include Bolstadøyri, Borstrondi, Evanger, Kvitheim, Mjølfjell, ...

1933-38 (nytt opplag 1981) * Jakob H. Vik: Bumerke frå

Kvam Kvam is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The municipality is located along the Hardangerfjorden in the traditional district of Hardanger. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Norheimsund. Other larger set ...

i Hordaland, ''Hardanger Historielags tilleggskrift nr 13'',

Øystese Øystese is a village in the municipality of Kvam in Vestland county, Norway. It is located along the Hardangerfjord about east of the municipal centre of Norheimsund. Norwegian County Road 7 passes through the village. The village had a popula ...

1962 * Kristian A. Bentsen: Merker og bumerker, ''

Agder Agder is a county (''fylke'') and traditional region in the southern part of Norway. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Aust-Agder counties were merged. Since the early 1900s, the term Sørlandet ("south ...

historielags årsskrift nr 46'',

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, following the incorporati ...

S 1968 * Albert Joleik: ''Soga om

Flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. ...

'', Flora 1980, med bumerker tilrettelagt av Anders J. Moen * Åsta Østmoe Kostveit: ''Kors i kake, skurd i tre. Tegn og symboler i folkekulturen'', Oslo 1997
Hans Cappelen: ''Bumerker i Norge'' (Oslo 2005)
* Hans Cappelen: «Bumerker i Norge - en oversikt», in Anders Bjønnes et al.: ''Segltegninger fra hyllingene i Norge 1591 og 1610'', Oslo 2010 ; Danish: * Allan Tønnesen: '' Helsingørs bomærker'',

København Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

1968 * Allan Tønnesen: Bomerker og runer, ''Heraldisk Tidsskrift'' 51/23, København 1985 * Allan Tønnesen (editor): ''Magtens besegling. Enevoldsarveregeringsakterne af 1661 og 1662 underskrevet og beseglet af stænderne i Danmark, Norge, Island og Færøerne'', Syddansk Universitetsforlag, Odense 2013, 583 p., . ; Swedish:
Tuve Skånberg: ''Glömda gudstecken. Från fornkyrklig dopliturgi till allmogens bomärken''
(2003) under

Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...

BY-NC-ND 2.5 license ; German: * C. G. Homeyer: ''Die Haus- und Hofmarken'',

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

1870 * H. Spruth: ''Die Hausmarke, Wesen und Bibliographie'', Neustadt a.d.A. 1960

External links

; Norwegian:
Bumerker
(with multiple examples)

{{DEFAULTSORT:House Mark Symbols Heraldic charges Visual motifs

Description

History

See also

References

Sources

External links