Strip fields and enclosure in Sweden

Abstract

A study of the history of field systems and land reform in Europe makes one acutely aware of the difficulty of translating the terms used in one language into another. The cause of the difficulty is that practices differ from country to country and even within one single country. A two-field system is not the same in southern Sweden (Skåne) as further north in the Malar provinces. The former had a 4-year, the latter a 2-year, cycle. The term cannot be used therefore to describe both systems unless a clear definition is given, explaining the common features and identifying the differ-ences. The problem is still more difficult when two or more countries are being compared. The differences are often so great that it is more useful to use two different words and it is sometimes more appropriate to retain the original word without translation. The terms run-rig, bocage, Rundling and zadruga are internationally understood by the specialists and any translation would be less meaningful and less accurate than the original. The difficulty of putting the Swedish words enskifte and laga skifte into English has led the author, after consulting the editor of this review, to attempt to give a definition of these and other Swedish terms and then to use them untranslated in the subsequent text.