Swedish genealogy words
These Swedish genealogy words are the ones you meet in old church records and family trees. Each word with its own page explains what it meant for the person's life, how it appears in the records and what not to confuse it with.
Occupations and social standing
- backstugusittareA poor cottager who lived in a small cabin on someone else's land, with no land to farm.
- bondeA farmer – a man who worked his own or rented farmland in the countryside.
- drängA farmhand – a male servant on a farm, usually unmarried and hired for one year at a time.
- hemmansägareA farm owner – a farmer who owned his farm, called a hemman, and paid tax on it to the Crown.
- inhysesA lodger – someone who lived and ate on a farm, usually not family and not a servant there.
- pigaA maid – a female servant on a farm, usually hired for one year at a time.
- statareA married farm laborer on a large estate, hired for a year and paid mostly in goods, called stat.
- torpareA crofter – a man who farmed a small holding on someone else's land and paid for it with days of work.