Ruokakunnan

Ruokakunnan is the genitive form of the Finnish noun ruokakunta, a term that designates a household or a small community defined by shared dwelling and daily meals. The word combines ruoka (food) and kunta (community or population in historical usage, including parish or municipality), reflecting the idea of a group living and eating together.

Historically, ruokakunta was used in church records, tax rolls, and census documents to mark the residents of a single dwelling, such as a farm, manor, or parish house. In genealogical research, the ruokakunta is often the practical unit that shows who lived together and how resources or responsibilities were distributed within a household. The exact composition could vary by region and era, but it generally encompassed all people dwelling under one roof who shared meals.

In modern Finnish, ruokakunta is encountered primarily in archival, historical, or scholarly contexts. It is less common in everyday language, where terms like household or family are more typical. The possessive form ruokakunnan is used in phrases such as ruokakunnan jäsenet (members of the household) or ruokakunnan talous (the household economy), illustrating its function as a descriptive unit rather than a separate social category.

Overall, ruokakunnan provides a historical concept for understanding household organization, living arrangements, and social welfare within Finnish communities, particularly in the context of traditional records and genealogical study.