Inhabition
The English-language word used to translate (inadequately, as usual) several Speech-words involving the association of spirit or power with matter.
Broadly speaking there are three types of inhabition. The first (normally signaled by use of the Speech-root word alelemai- in the fuller descriptive term) involves the intimate association of "non-personal" power with matter in various modes -- with the matter's "acceptance" or without it. This sort of inhabition involves the activation of normally quiescent substances or objects so that they mimic some of the qualities of life. An example of this would be constructs like golems, animated by direct or indirect use of the Speech.
The second type of inhabition (Sp. prefix or infix nurremai-) involves the close association of personally grounded power, or of the soul / spirit, with a pre-existing item or object of matter. Typical of this sort of inhabition would be such constructs as perytons, into which elements of human souls are bound. Normally the implication is that this kind of inhabition is being enforced by another being, from outside.
The third type of inhabition (Sp. prefix or infix ch'shevemai-) is more involved than the first two and normally involves the close association of one spirit with another spirit that is presently embodied in matter. This type further subdivides into associations that happen with the recipient spirit's consent, associations that occur or are enforced without consent, and associations that start out as one type and end up as another.
The first subtype (sheve'tam-) is surprisingly commonplace in wizardry, and closely corresponds to the Midrashic concept of ibbur (often translated "impregnation", possibly not the best rendering) in which the spirit of an ancestor, master or mentor -- sometimes dead but not always -- enters a human body to briefly coexist with the "owner" soul for purposes of instruction, assistance or comfort.
The second subtype (sheve'tur-) is closer to the concept of possession as it's understood in much human popular culture: a condition requiring exorcism or similar forced removal of the inhabiting spirit if matters are to be put right.
The third subtype (sheve'turtham- / sheve'hurtham-) suggests that an inhabition or possession that started out in one format has been changed into another, or significantly conditioned, either by the events surrounding or following the inhabition, or by the interaction of the two beings / spirits involved. Typical of this inhabition subtype would be Ronan's relationship with the Michael Power, or the Yaldiv Memeki's relationship with the Hesper. (There is at present insufficient data to determine whether this subtype is a good example of what is going on with Nita and the Peridexion: or -- on a much larger scale -- Ponch and the rest of the canine species.)(AWAB, WH, WAW)