Page:A Lexicon of Medieval Nordic Law (OBP.0188, 2020).pdf/536

• • In Denmark the toft was comparatively large and contained cultivated fields. In these fields the land was held in severalty. In the toft are mentioned enclosed apæld garth (apple or fruit garden), kalgarth (kailyard), hialm garth (hay shed) as well as toftæ garth (JyL 3 60). The size of the toft determined the size of the taxes paid to the king and the physical arrangement of the order in which the different strip fields (aker) were laid out if the village land was shifted (JyL 1 55, ESjL 2 55; (see solskipt under Land-division systems below). The size of the toft is still not fully investigated, but in the late middle ages the large toft was eventually divided into smaller more garden-like areas (Hoff 1997, 84–121).
    The ON tóft, might refer to the foundation and walls before a roof was put on, and later it was used to describe ruined buildings.
  • Refs: Aðalsteinsson 1986–89, 38; CV s.v. topt; Hoff 1997, 84–121; Holmberg 1946, passim; KLNM s.v.v. tomt, tún.
• tún (ON) n.
  • Tún is related to words meaning ‘fence, barrier’. In Norwegian [not in the laws] it refers to the area around which

the farmhouses were grouped. In Icelandic laws it refers to the cultivated land surrounding the farm, which might be enclosed by a túngarðr or túnvöllr.

• • See also tompt.
  • Refs: CV s.v. tún; Hastrup 1992, 108; Helle 2001, 106–16; Holmberg 1969, 247–61; KLNM s.v. tún.
• þorp (OSw) , thorp (ODan) n.
  • The word þorp, thorp is only found in Danish and Swedish laws. It has been very productive as a place-name suffix since the late Viking Age, with around 10,000 names ending in þorp, thorp, whereas in Norway only a handful of names of this kind is found.
    In Danish laws thorp refers to a new settlement (‘outlying village’) created from the main (old) village (athelby), and the laws regulate terms between the old and the new village, boundaries, size and the use of deserted settlements.
    In the Swedish laws þorp seems to refer to a single (often small) farm, possibly moved out from a village.
  • See also þorpakarl in the lexicon.
  • Refs: Berg 2013, 22–23; Hoff 1997, 122–141; KLNM s.v. torp; Porsmose 1988, 240–48; Schlyter s.v. þorp

Cultivated land: arable land

The property rights, distribution, use and individual size of arable land, land used for hay harvest, grazing and as a common resource available to a single landowner or user varied a great deal between the Nordic provinces and between individuals. Climate, soil fertility, landscape as well as social, economic and cultural differences determined the practical forms for utilizing these assets.

Diagram 3. Illustration of the sematic scope of words in the laws denoting cultivated land. Diagram produced by Inger Larsson.