Othala
The Inherited Ground
Inherited land, held rightly — a gift that is also a boundary; SS bodies and the far right took the shape.
The reconstructed *oþala appears as Old English eþel and Old Norse óðal, the last a live legal term: odelsrett, the right to inherited land, is still Norwegian law. The Old English poem is the only medieval gloss, and it is domestic: an estate is dear to every man if he can enjoy in his dwelling what is right and proper, in constant prosperity. The order of the last two letters varies between inscriptions, the Kylver stone ending d then o and the Vadstena bracteate the other way. In the twentieth century the shape was adopted by SS bodies including the Race and Settlement Main Office, and far-right groups use it today.
Light
Land held rightly. The gloss is about lawful enjoyment of a house and its ground in steady prosperity, an inheritance that passes rather than a fortune that is won.
Shadow
Inheritance is a boundary as much as a gift. The idea of blood-held land was taken up by SS units and by present-day far-right groups, which is the association most readers now meet first.
