Thing

See also: thing and þing

English

Etymology

See thing.

Pronunciation

• enPR: thĭng, IPA^(key): /θɪŋ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪŋ

Noun

Thing (plural Things)

1. (chiefly historical) A public assembly or judicial council in a Germanic country.
   • 1894, George W. Dasent, transl., The Orkneyingers Saga: Icelandic Sagas, volume 3:

     But when the earl held a Thing, then Thorkell spoke on behalf of the freemen, told the need of the men, and bade the earl spare his people.

   • 1988, Patrick J. Geary, Chapter II, "The Barbarian World in the Sixth Century", 'Germanic Culture', Before France and Germany: the creation and transformation of the Merovingian world, page 55:

     The supreme political unit of the tribe was the assembly of its free male warriors. This assembly, called the "Thing", served as the court of highest instance for dealing with individuals who had broken fundamental elements of the tribal pact, an occasion to meet and to reinforce ties among members, and, often, an assembly which preceded a military campaign.

   • 1997, “Egil's Saga”, in Bernard Scudder, transl., The Sagas of Icelanders, Penguin, published 2001, page 168:

     Before Thorstein left home, he and Asgerd decided to take Arinbjorn's gift, the silk cloak, out of Egil's chest, and Thorstein wore it to the Thing.

   • 2004, Sjúrður Skaale, The Right to National Self-Determination: the Faroe Islands and Greenland, page 46:

     1928 The Executive Committee of the Law Thing is created to assume executive powers from the Governor.

2. (informal) Nickname or appellative for numerous "things", including fictional characters.
3. (informal, slang, US) Nickname for the Volkswagen 181.

Derived terms

• Thingstead
• the Althing of Iceland
• the Great Thing of Norway
• the Law Thing of the Faroes

Translations

public assembly

• Danish: ting (da)
• Dutch: ding (nl)
• Estonian: ting (et)
• Faroese: ting
• Finnish: ting (fi), thing (fi)
• French: Thing
• German: Ding (de) n, Thing (de) n
• Icelandic: þing (is)
• Italian: ting (it), thing (it)
• Macedonian: тинг m (ting)
• Norwegian: ting (no)
• Old English: þing
• Old High German: ding
• Old Norse: þing
• Portuguese: thing (pt) m or f
• Russian: тинг (ru) (ting)
• Spanish: thing (es)
• Swedish: ting (sv)

Anagrams

• Night, night

German

Etymology

18th century, learned borrowing from Old High German thing and Old Norse þing, both from Proto-Germanic *þingą. Doublet of inherited Ding.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɪŋ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

Thing n (strong, genitive Things, plural Thinge)

1. Thing (historic Germanic council)

   Synonym: (dated) Ding

Declension

Declension of Thing [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Thing	die	Thinge
genitive	eines	des	Things	der	Thinge
dative	einem	dem	Thing	den	Thingen
accusative	ein	das	Thing	die	Thinge

See also

• Thie