*Ōþala

The sole attested name of the rune is or ("property, inheritance, home, native land"). The Proto-Germanic name for the rune has therefore been reconstructed as or ("patrimony, inherited possession"). It has cognates with similar meanings in other Germanic languages, including ("ancestral property", "patrimony", "inheritance"), ("home") and ("ancestral property"). Alternative names for the rune include *ōðilan. This general meaning is found in , which refers to Scandinavian laws of inheritance which established land rights for families that had owned that parcel of land over a number of generations, restricting its sale to others. Among other aspects, this protected the inheritance rights of daughters against males from outside the immediate family. Some of these laws remain in effect today in Norway as the Odelsrett (allodial right). The tradition of Udal law found in Shetland, Orkney, and the Isle of Man, is from the same origin. == Elder Futhark ==

ᛟ features in Elder Futhark, where it represents the /o:/ sound and is transliterated to the Latin script as o. As with other Elder Futhark runes, its exact origins are unclear beyond its ultimate descent from the Phoenician alphabet. Derivation from Latin O or Q has been proposed, however, while most Elder Futhark runes are more similar capital Latin letters than Greek ones, ᛟ more closely resembles Ω ("Omega"). North Italic alphabets have also been suggested as the source, including Venetic and Lepontic, and Letters with very similar sounds and shape are also known in Alpine and Etruscan scripts, suggesting these as a possible origin. Why the runes have their order is also unclear and debated, with little correspondence between it and that of potential source scripts. A notable alignment though is between ᛟ and Ω, which are both found at the end. ᛟ is used throughout the body of Elder Futhark inscriptions to denotes the /o:/ sound. This includes in the some of the earliest runic inscriptions such as the Hole Runestone () and Vimose planer (). It has also been suggested to be used as an ideograph representing the word "" on the Ring of Pietroassa, referencing the ring as hereditary treasure. It has been similarly proposed to denote the Thorsberg chape () as the inherited possession of the inscription's writer. File:Thorsberg Ortband.png|Illustration of the Thorsberg chape () showing the runic inscriptions on both sides File:Vindelev bracteate x13 with runes.jpg|Bracteate from the Vindelev Hoard , showing the word wodnas ("Óðinn's") right to left File:Kylverstenens futhark-inskrift 1384-1385.jpg|ᛟ at the end of the Kylver Stone rune-row . == Relation to the Gothic alphabet ==

The letter in the Gothic alphabet 𐍉 () was used in the 4th century CE by Wulfila to represent an /o:/ sound in his Bible, and may have been derived from ᛟ. Alternatively, it may have been derived from the Greek Ω (omega), which closely resembles both, or ο (omicron). As with the names of most other Gothic letters, is cognate with the name of its corresponding rune, . This name is recorded in a manuscript from around the 10th century, however, and it has been suggested that the names in general may have been created retrospectively based on rune names, long after the letters were. == Anglo-Frisian Fuþorc ==

Usage of ᛟ continues into the Anglo-Frisian runes, where it was used along with all the other 23 Elder Futhark runes and new innovations. Anglo-Frisian sound changes led to it taking on the sound ø, also written as ö. ᛟ in Anglo-Frisian runes is therefore transliterated into Latin script as œ, while the /o:/ sound becomes represented by the new ᚩ, from the Elder Futhark ᚨ. When exactly these developments first took place and spread is unclear, however ᛟ seems to represent the œ vowel in all known English inscriptions that contain it and ᚩ is first attested early, on the 5th century Undley bracteate. Furthermore, both ᛟ and ᚩ are found on the pre-Old English Chessel Down inscription, suggesting the changes had taken place by when this inscription was made. In contrast, the likely Frisian skanomodo (before the mid 7th century), uses ᛟ for the /o:/ sound and there are no known Frisian inscriptions with ᚩ from before the 8th century. This absence could, however, be a result of there being very few known Frisian runic texts. An alternative form of the rune developed in this writing system, in which it was ritten with a single vertical line instead of the two diagonal legs, perhaps due to its simpler form. This form is found in some manuscripts and more rarely in runic inscriptions, such as on the 10th century Seax of Beagnoth. The rune is also used ideographically as a shorthand for the word or ("ancestral property or land") in manuscripts of texts such as Beowulf, Waldere and the Old English translation of Orosius' Historiae adversus paganos. This is similar to wider practices of the time, in which runes such as , and were also used as shorthands to write the name of the rune. Furthermore, a stanza based on ᛟ's name " forms part of the Old English rune poem, composed in the 8th or 9th century and preserved in a now lost 10th century manuscript: File:Harford Farm Brooch reverse.JPG|Back of the Harford Farm Brooch () File:2024-03-05 British Museum 56 (cropped).jpg|The left panel of the Franks Casket (early 8th century), showing the rune on both the top right and bottom right File:Seax of Beagnoth inscription.jpg|Seax of Beagnoth rune row (), showing the alternative rune form between the ᛗ and ᚪ File:CottonMSVitelliusAXV EthelRune.jpg|Section of Beowulf in the Nowell Codex (late 10th-early 11th century), showing the rune to represent the word "" == Transition to Younger Futhark ==

While ᛟ continued to be used in England, it largely disappeared in Scandinavia during the development of the Younger Futhark, which began to emerge shortly after 700 CE. In this new system, the /o/ phoneme became instead written in the same way as /u/ phoneme and all other rounded vowels, with ᚢ. The reason for the loss of ᛟ, alongside 7 other elder futhark runes, is debated but was possibly a choice to use the more simple shape of ᚢ. It may also have been influenced by sound changes of the rune names, with likely developing into *œðil. This vowel mutation left no rune with a name matching the /o/ sound. Furthermore, it may have not been seen as worth keeping a dedicated rune to write the rare "œ" vowel that the rune name now began with. ᛟ is found in some transitional inscriptions that use both Elder Futhark and new rune shapes, including those that would become Younger Futhark. Many of these include ᚼ, representing an /a/ sound, alongside runes elsewhere only found in Elder Futhark inscriptions, as in the Stentoften Runestone. ᛟ is also attested on the mostly Younger Futhark Rök runestone, dating to around 800 CE. In this context, the choice to use older runes has been proposed to be an intentional reference to an event nine generations ago mentioned in the inscription. File:Eggjasteinen innskrift.jpg|Eggja stone (, with both ᛟ and ᚼ File:Rökstenen Ög 2020 3.jpg|Rök runestone (), showing ᛟ alongside Younger Futhark runes == Modern period ==

Runology ᛟ and the rest of the fuþorc were still known in England in the 17th century due to continued knowledge of early medieval manuscripts and collectors, such as George Hickes who made copies of Old English texts such as the Old English rune poem. Popular culture , written in English using Tolkien's Angerthas Erebor script, in which the rune based on ᛟ represents a "u" sound. It reads left-to-right: "Balin sʌn ov Fu[nd]in lord ov Moria" Like other historical runes, ᛟ is widely used in popular culture, including by J.R.R. Tolkien on Thror's map of Erebor in The Hobbit, published in 1937. Runes such as ᛟ further form the base for the dwarvish Cirth writing systems used in The Lord of the Rings, published in 1954 and 1955, and described in Tolkien's Legendarium. It is also used as the symbol for the "Lore" resource in Northgard, released in 2018, and in Stargate SG-1, Othala is a world in the Ida Galaxy where the Asgard had lived. SS-rune ᛟ, like some other runes, was adopted as an occult symbol by German Nazi occultists and thereof in the 1930s, later being adopted by the German Schutzstaffel (SS) as an SS-rune to symbolise kinship, family and blood ties within the Aryan race. The SS modified the symbol with serifs, also called "feet" or "wings", subsequently being nicknamed "Winged Othala" and thereof in modern times. It was subsequently used by various military divisions within the German Army during World War II and also became the badge of the SS Race and Settlement Main Office, which was responsible for maintaining the racial purity of the SS. After World War II, this symbol has seen continued by Neo-Nazis and similar far-right collectives. White supremacists who use the rune often claim it symbolises the heritage or land of "white" or "Aryan" people which should be free from foreigners. Usages such as these are not attested in any source from before the modern period, being invented by members of these groups. The Anti-Defamation League notes that because it is part of the runic alphabet, ᛟ rune is often used in non-racist manners and should be interpreted in its context of use. Heathenry ᛟ, along with other runes more widely, often feature prominently in the practices of Heathens, and are commonly used to decorate items and in tattoos. The use of runes such as ᛟ by far-right groups has been strongly condemned by some Heathen groups, including Asatru UK which released a public statement that "[it] is categorically opposed to fascist movements, or any movements, using the symbols of our faith for hate". == References ==