markanvänt

Markanvänt is a Swedish term that appears in historical land records to describe land that has previously been used for productive purposes. The word is a compound of mark (land) and använt (used), and it functions as an adjective or participial phrase in older and some regional texts. Its precise meaning varied with time and place, but it generally signaled land that had been brought into use—typically for agriculture, pasture, or other forms of management—as opposed to land regarded as unbrukad mark (unutilized land) or forest.

In historical contexts, markanvänt is encountered in estate inventories, tax documents, and cadastral maps. It often indicated that the land had an active history of use, which could influence legal rights, taxation, tenancy, and obligations tied to the site. The term is far less common in modern administrative language, where contemporary classifications use terms like markanvändning (land use) or more specific categories such as jordbruksmark (agricultural land), betesmark (grazing land), and skogsmark (forestry land).

Etymology mirrors its function: mark meaning land and använt meaning used. The concept persists in discussions of historical land management and agrarian geography, even as current terminology has shifted toward standardized classifications in land surveying and planning.

See also: markanvändning, mark, obrukad mark, jordbruk, lantmäteri.