English and German names of the classes as between the former and
those of Rome.

The Germanic MARK system has no counterpart in the land system
introduced into England by the ANGLO-SAXONs. If village communities
existed in England, it must have been before the invasion of the
Romans. The German system, as described by Caesar, was suited to
nomads--to races on the wing, who gave to no individual possession
for more than a year, that there might be no home ties. The mark
system is of a later date, and was evidently the arrangement of
other races who permanently settled themselves upon the lands
vacated by the older nations. And I may suggest whether, as these
lands were originally inhabited by the Celts, the conquerors did
not adopt the system of the conquered.

Even in the nomenclature of FEUDALISM, introduced into England in
the fifth century, we are driven back to Scandinavia for an
explanation. The word FEUDAL as applied to land has a Norwegian
origin, from which country came Rollo, the progenitor of William
the Norman. Pontoppidan ("History of Norway," p.290) says "The
ODHALL, right of Norway, and the UDALL, right of Finland, came from
the words 'Odh,' which signifies PROPRIETORS, and 'all,' which
means TOTUM. A transposition of these syllables makes ALL ODH, or
ALLODIUM, which means absolute property. FEE, which means stipend
or pay, united with OTH, thus forming FEE-OTH or FEODUM, denoting
stipendiary property. "Wacterus states that the word ALLODE,
ALLODIUM, which applies to land in Germany, is composed of AN and
LOT--i.e., land obtained by lot.

I therefore venture the opinion that the settlement of England in