In the Elder Futhark symbolism of the ancient Vikings, Othala rune represented the o sound. Othala disappeared from the Scandinavian record around the 6th century, but it survived in the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc, and expressed the Old English œ.
Viking rune *ōþalą has become ēðel in Old English and uodal in Old High German.
The mystical and magical Rune alphabet starts with fehu, (Avestan fšü) “wealth, prosperity, cattle,” and concludes with *ōþalą “heritage; inheritance, legacy.”
The word ōþalą itself appears to be unique to ancient Germanic, and cannot be traced back to the ancient Aryan/Indo European speech.
However, the concept of “heritage/good lineage,” and the continuation of a sacred legacy going back to the beginning, is strongly present in the poetic gathas of prophet Zarathustra, as well as in the prose and poetry of the sacred Avestan lore of the Zoroastrians.
The Gathic/Old Avestan word for “good genus” is hû-zéntuš, and it appears many times in the gáthás or “sacred songs” of the ancient seer/prophet.
The term for “heritage/inheritance” in the gathas is raæḵna from the root *rik. Vedic reknas is a cognate. The reconstructed Proto Indo European root is *leik. Avestan raæḵna recalls the Germanic noun lehan in the sense of “loan,” that is the “spiritual legacy/advantage” that is LOANED to us, and must be paid back with increase and betterment.
Othala represents god-powers and sacred knowledge from past generations, as well as realization of paradise here on this earth.
The ultimate realization of Othala as the final rune of the cycle is the coming age of god-men. In that respect, there exist many parallels with the Zoroastrian saôšiiants “giants of the ages.” Saôšiiant literally means to “swell with power of the gods and good fortune,” and heralds in a new age of god men.
Saôšiiánt stems from the verbal root √sü “to swell with power, divine strength,” Welsh cawr “Giant”, Lithuanian šaūnas “robust, strong,” and Old Norse hūnn “young, strong” are cognates.
In the poetic gathas (Lithuanian giedóti “sing hymns”) concerning heritage/legacy (raæḵna, Germanic lehan) we read in Yasna 34.7:
kûθrá töi aredrá mazdá//ýöi vaηhéuš vaædená man.aηhö
séñg.hüš raæḵe.náv aspen.čît sádrá.čît//caḵraiiö ûši.ûrü
naæ.čîm tém aniiém ýüš.mat vaædá//ašá aθá-náv θráž.düm
Where are Thy “fit, strong ones” Mindful lord//who acquiring the wisdom of the Good Mind’s
Edicts and Legacy, can turn any inauspicious event, even sorrow, grief //into wide and beaming smile
I know none other than you// through Excellence, Truth; shelter us.
The word for the “fit/strong ones” is aredrá in the original Avestan. Modern translators have mostly translated this word as “ardent.” Yet as Helmut Humbach suggests the term comes from areta “order, fitness, strength,” (Old Norse ein–arðr is a cognate.)
The term aredrá seems to refer to astvat ereta “embodiment in flesh of the cosmic order, fitness, and divine strength.” Astvat ereta is another name for the future saôšiiant who will rise from a sacred lake, and herald in a fresh, new, resplendent universe, the new age of god-men.
Our true legacy is to inherit the “Good Mind of the Gods” vaηhéuš man.aηhö. Menes is the “energy of consciousness, passion of the spirit, mind power” that enables the warrior to achieve great deeds. Avestan vôhü, vaηhéuš represents “goodness, betterment and brilliance.”
Vaηhéuš, vásu, visi, eús “good, bright,” appears frequently in divine names among Indo European people e.g Gaul divine name Vesu-avus and Latin goddess Vesuna. The Germanic tribal name Visigoths “the good goths” comes from the same root.
In the Zoroastrian tradition, “Good Mind of the Gods” vaηhéuš man.aηhö is the protector of animals, “cattle, wealth” fšü (rune fehu is a cognate.)
Our heritage is to acquire the wisdom (vaædená) of the Gods, the Brilliant Disposition of the Immortals, and through their creative edicts, rulings (Avestan séñg.hüš, Latin censeo,) turn every inauspicious event (Avestan a-spen) and sorrow (Avestan sádrá, Old Norse hadr,) into a wide, beaming smile or opportunity.
Zoroastrianism ONLY sees godhood in “goodness, overcoming of limitations, betterment, and triumph of the spirit.”
Concerning our heritage/inheritance, we read in the Zoroastrian sacred literature: I have come from the unseen world, not from this world. I belong to the Mindful Lord who is all goodness and light, NOT to Ahriman who is a liar and a deceiver, all gloom, and full of death.
I belong to the hallowed gods (Avestan yazatás, Greek hagios,) not to demons (daævás,) to the pure, and not to the vile. I am a man, not a demon, a creature of the God of Mind whose powers are undying, infinite and pure.
My stock and lineage is from *Gayömart (primordial man.) My mother is Speñtá Ármaiti, (“auspicious contemplation and meditation,” embodied in earth), my father is the God of Inspiring Creativity (Mazdá, Greek Muses.) I belong to the Mindful lord, the Creator, and his Auspicious Immortals, NOT to the broken spirit and his host of impure demons. There is only one path and that is of excellence/truth.
I shall conclude, by stating that gayö-mart is the primordial giant, the first man from whom mankind is descended. His account is intertwined with the tale of the sole-created cow. The name gaiia-mareta means “mortal life.” In the Avesta, Gayömart is the primordial giant and beginning of this world, just as Saôšiiáns represents the end of this age, and beginning the new age of the god-men.
The Avestan account on the primordial man presents striking similarities to the Norse/Scandinavian origin myths. A. Christensen (1917, I, p. 37) preferred to reconstruct the transmission of Avestan themes to the Caucasus and from there, through the intermediation of the Ostrogoths, to the Scandinavian tribes.
ardeshir
I shall thank My good Friend Didier Calin on his notes on Othala
