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VII THE PROBLEM OF THE SOUTH SLAV ZADRUGA Before embarking on a survey of definitions of the zadruga and the various criteria used for these definitions, it is necessary to very briefly explain the term zadruga. This Slavic word was not used to designate a family form of any kind in any of the South Slavic vernaculars. It existed only in its adjectival form (zadružen, zadrugarski, etc.), meaning communal, united, joint, corporative, and other synonyms, and would be used to define “work,” “relations,” and so on. The first time it appears as a noun, and used subsequently, to designate a certain family type, is in Vuk Karadžić’s Serbian dictionary, published in Vienna in 1818: zadruga – Hausgenossenschaft (in Gegensatze der einzelnen Familie), plures familiae in eadem domo (more Serbico) (Karadžić 1898, 181). Practically all scholars agree that the zadruga is a neologism, most probably coined by Vuk Karadžić himself to denominate a large family household, in contrast to the small, simple or nuclear family comprising only parents and children (Sicard 1976, 253). Whereas the word spread very quickly in the literature (historical , economic, legal etc.), significantly enough, it never entered the vernacular . Instead, a number of different terms continued to be used in everyday speech depending on the regional differences. The most frequent term was “house” (kuća in Serbo-Croatian, kîšta in Bulgarian ), used to describe any kind of family household. In the case of a large family of the extended or multiple type, “house” would be accompanied by adjectives : “big” (velika or goliama), “united” (zadružna), “undivided” (neodijelijena). Another term was “the children of the family, the lot” (čeljad), also qualified by attributes related to size. In different regions terms like skupčina (Zagorje in Croatia), kupčtina (parts of Bulgaria), hiža, dom, dimačina (parts of Croatia), tayfa1 (Macedonia), familija (parts of Macedonia), društvo (Vojvodina), domakinstvo , dom, kîšta (Bulgaria), glota (Banat), etc. were used. Still another way of expressing communal life was by description: “we live in a crowd [literally— heap]” (živeem u kup, kupno), “together” (naedno, zajedno), “The people are united, they live united” (zadružni su ljudi, zadružno živejat) etc.(Vinski 1938, 14–16; Filipović 1976; Bobchev 1888; Geshov 1887, 438). 127 Balkan Family Structure In 1807, the Austrian government published a legal code for the Military Frontier, the “Grenzgrundgesetze.” In it, a heretofore unknown family organization was described and codified. Neither of the above-mentioned designations was used, however, but an entirely new term was coined: the “Hauskommunion” (Kaser 1985, 14). Consequently, all definitions of the zadruga, whether originated from a legal, economic or kinship perspective, were in the last resort definitions of an artificial nineteenth century term rather than definitions of a phenomenon existing under this name. This is important to keep in mind especially when analyzing the historical evidence for the zadruga. Most definitions of the zadruga do not contradict, they complement each other (Karadžić 1898; Hrvatsko Zadružno Pravo, 1884; Marinov 1984; Dopsch 1909; Ivšić 1933; Sicard 1947; Sicard 1976; Mosely 1976; Filipović 1976; Hammel 1972; Hammel 1975; Halpern and Wagner 1984). The approaches can be different— legal, economic, political, but they usually agree in their main descriptions. A contemporary and ardent researcher of the zadruga in the late nineteenth century characterized them as follows: Under the name zadruga we understand a family consisting of 10–15–20, and even more small families or households (man, wife and the children), who live together around one threshing floor, work together, bring in together , eat together, and are ruled by one person (Marinov 1984, 293). At the same time the zadruga was defined as a legal entity in Croatia: Several families or members, living in the same house, under the management of one head and constituting one farm, working together on undivided property, using revenues communally, constituting a patriarchal community, called zadruga (Hrvatsko Zadružno Pravo 1884, art.1). However, two major treatments of the zadruga are discernible: one treating it as an institution, the other as a stage in the family life-cycle.2 Probably the most concise definition of the zadruga in the first line of reasoning belongs to Philip Mosely: A household composed of two or more biological or small-families, closely related by blood or adoption, owning its means of livelihood jointly, and regulating the control of its property, labor, and livelihood communally (1976...

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