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Ahouse 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, insignet and similar in the farmer andburgher culture ofGermany,the Netherlands and theNordic countries.
These marks have the appearance ofglyphs orrunes consisting of a pattern of simple lines, without the application of colour.
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 acoat of arms 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 inrock carvings and in earlywriting systems. 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 oftenrunes, characters and numbers, stylized figures, international symbols like crosses, stars, andastrological orastronomical 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 tocadency and addingbrisures as a method to change a coat of arms.
Many house marks are placed inshield-shaped frames. We see this in seals, on buildings and ontombstones, for both farmers and city dwellers inScandinavia andGerman areas, during the 1700s and 1800s. Some of these house mark shields also had color and approached the heraldic coat of arms.
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, or buildings for recognition of ownership.
Besides farmers, house marks have also been used bymerchants,tradesman,artisans, and other town burghers on for exampleBryggen inBergen, on building blocks in theNidaros Cathedral, and on personalseals in other Norwegian cities. There are also house marks written by hand on documents, for instance house marks ofmining workers atRøros.
The Norwegian wordbomerke orboemerke probably came fromDenmark. There is no Norwegian reference before the 17th century. Todaybomerke is mainly written asbumerke inNorwegian. Both in Denmark andSweden, the wordbomerke (with multiple spellings) is used since the 14th century and in the 16th century. In theIcelandic codes of law from theMiddle Ages, one finds the wordeinkunn used to denote owner marks used to tag animals. It is likely that this word has also been used in Norway.[1]
In Finnish, the wordpuumerkki ("insignia") means a distinguishing mark or sign used by illiterate persons as a replacement of a written signature in official documents.
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