House mark

House mark is 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 and similar in the farmer and burgher culture of Germany and Scandinavia.

The tradition originates with the mason's marks used in the Middle Ages.

These marks have the appearance of glyphs or runes consisting of a pattern of simple lines, without the application of colour.

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. The use of house marks dates back to long before writing was public knowledge.

Besides farmers, house marks have also been used by merchants, tradesman, artisans and other town burghers on for example Bryggen in Bergen, on building blocks in the Nidaros Cathedral, and on personal seals in other Norwegian cities. There are also house marks written by hand on documents, for instance house marks of mining workers at Røros.

The Norwegian word bomerke or boemerke probably came from Denmark. There is no Norwegian reference before the 17th century. Today bomerke is mainly written as bumerke in Norwegian. Both in Denmark and Sweden, the word bomerke (with multiple spellings) is used since the 14th century and in the 16th century. In the Icelandic codes of law from the Middle Ages, one finds the word einkunn used to denote owner marks used to tag animals. It is likely that this word has also been used in Norway.

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