[mass noun](Law)a kind of freehold tenure based on uninterrupted possession, formerly practised in northern Europe and still in use in Orkney and Shetland (法律)土地自由保有权(旧时在北欧实行,今仍然在英国奥克尼地区和设得兰地区实行)
语源
late 15th cent.: from Old Norse othal 'property held by inheritance', of Germanic origin