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Thing (assembly)

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A Germanic assembly, byCharles Rochussen

Athing,[a]also known as afolkmoot,assembly,tribal council,andby other names,was a governing assembly in earlyGermanicsociety, made up of the free people of the community presided over by alawspeaker.Things took place at regular intervals, usually at prominent places that were accessible by travel. They provided legislative functions, as well as being social events and opportunities for trade. In modern usage, the meaning of this word in English and other languages has shifted to mean not just an assemblage of some sort but simply an object of any sort.

Etymology[edit]

Look upthingin Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The word appears in Old Norse, Old English, and modernIcelandicasþing,[b]inMiddle English(as inmodern English),Old Saxon,Old Dutch,andOld Frisianasthing(the difference betweenþingandthingis purely orthographical), inGermanasDing,inDutchandAfrikaansasding,and in modernNorwegian,Danish,Swedish,Faroese,Gutnish,andNornasting.[1]The place where a thing was held was called a "thingstead" (Old Englishþingstede,Old Norseþingstaðr) or "thingstow" (Old Englishþingstōw). An alternative Proto-Germanic form of the word 'thing' was*þingsō,whence Gothicþeihs'time'. All of these terms derive from *þingąmeaning "appointed time", possibly originating inProto-Indo-European*ten-,"stretch", as in a "stretch of time for an assembly".[1]

In English, the term is attested from 685 to 686CEin the older meaning "assembly"; later it referred to a being, entity or matter (sometime before 899), and then also an act, deed, or event (from about 1000). The original sense of "meeting, assembly" did not survive the shift to Middle English.[2]The meaning of personal possessions, commonly in the plural, first appears inMiddle Englisharound 1300,[3]and eventually led to the modern sense of "object". This semantic development from "assembly" to "object" is mirrored in the evolution of theLatincausa( "judicial lawsuit", "case" ) to modernFrenchchose,Spanish/Italian/Catalancosa,andPortuguesecoisa(all meaning "object" or "thing" )[1]and the cognate to Englishsake(purpose),sakin Norwegian and Swedish,sagin Danish,zaakin Dutch,saakin Afrikaans, andSachein German, which in languages likeOld Norsemeant "accusation, lawsuit", but today also carries the sense "thing, object".

Today the term lives on in the English termhustingsand in the names ofnational legislaturesand political and judicial institutions of some Nordic countries (e.g. the Icelandic parliament, theAlþing) and of theIsle of Man(theTynwald). In modern German and Dutch the day Tuesday is named after the thing, namely 'Dienstag' and 'dinsdag'.

Early attestations[edit]

Germanicthing,drawn after the depiction in a relief of theColumn of Marcus AureliusinRome(193 CE)

The first detailed description of a thing was made byTacitusin 98 CE.[4]Tacitus suggested that the things were annual delegate-based meetings that served legal and military functions.[4]

The oldest written reference of the thing is on a stone pillar found alongHadrian's WallatHousesteadin the UK. It is dated 43–410 CE and reads:

DEO MARTI THINCSO ET DUABUS ALAISIAGIS BEDE ET FIMMILENE ET N AUG GERM CIVES TUIHANTI VSLM

To the god Mars Thincsus and the two Alaisiagae, Beda and Fimmilena, and to the Divinity of the Emperor the Germanics, being tribesmen of Tuihanti, willingly and deservedly fulfilled their vow.

The pillar was raised by aFrisianauxiliary unit of the Roman army deployed at Hadrian's Wall. The name Tuihanti refers to the current regionTwentein the east of the Netherlands. However, these Tuihanti tribesmen have been interpreted by different historians as Frisians.[5]Deo Mars Thincsus means 'god Mars of the Thing'. "Mars of the Thing" may be interpreted in analogy with the week-day name (the GermanicTuesdaycorresponding to LatinMartis dies'the day ofMars'; cf.Interpretatio germanica) asTīwazof the Thing. The godTīwaz(Old EnglishTíw,Old NorseTýr) was likely an important god in early Germanic times, and has numerous places in England and Denmark named after him. The possible theonyms Beda and Fimmilena in the same inscription seem to relate to thebodthingandfimelthing,two specific types of assemblies recorded in Old Frisian codices from around 1100 onward. These were specific types of assemblies. Perhaps the distinction was: the 'fixed thing' protected by the god Thincsus, the 'extra-ordinary thing' protected by the god Beda, and the 'informative or non-decision-making thing' protected by the god Fimmilena.[6]

TheAnglo-Saxonfolkmoot(Old Englishfolcgemōt,"folk meeting";Middle Englishfolkesmōt;modern Norwegianfolkemøte) was analogous, the forerunner to thewitenagemōtand a precursor of the modernParliament of the United Kingdom.

Use in Germanic society[edit]

The IcelandicAlthingin session, as imagined in the 1890s by British artistW. G. Collingwood.[7]

In the Viking Age, things were the public assemblies of the free men of a country, province, or ahundred(Swedish:härad, hundare,Danish:herred). They functioned as both parliaments and courts at different levels of society—local, regional, and supra-regional.[8]Their purpose was to solve disputes and make political decisions, and thing sites were also often the place for public religious rites. According to Norway's Law of theGulathing,only free men of full age could participate in the assembly.[9]According to written sources, women were clearly present at some things despite being left out of the decision making bodies, such as the IcelandicAlthing.[10]

In the pre-Christianclan-culture of Scandinavia, the members of a clan were obliged to avenge injuries against their dead and mutilated relatives. As a result, feuding is often seen as the most common form of conflict resolution used in Viking society. However, things are in a more general sense balancing structures used to reduce tribal feuds and avoid social disorder in North-Germanic cultures. They played an important role in Viking society as forums for conflict resolution, marriage alliances, power display, honor, and inheritance settlements.[8]

In Sweden, assemblies were held both at natural and man-made mounds, often burial mounds.[11]Specifically in Scandinavia, unusually large rune-stones and inscriptions suggesting a local family's attempt to claim supremacy are common features of thing sites. It is common for assembly sites to be located close to communication routes, such as navigable water routes and clear land routes.[12]

The thing met at regular intervals, legislated, electedchieftains and kings,and judged according to the law, which was memorized and recited by the "lawspeaker"(the judge). The thing's negotiations were presided over by the lawspeaker and the chieftain or the king. More and more scholarly discussions center around the things being forerunners to democratic institutions as we know them today. The IcelandicAlthingis considered to be the oldest surviving parliament in the world, the Norwegian Gulathing also dating back to 900-1300 CE.[13]While the things were not democratic assemblies in the modern sense of an elected body, they were built around ideas of neutrality and representation,[13]effectively representing the interests of larger numbers of people. In Norway, the thing was a space where free men and elected officials met and discussed matters of collective interest, such as taxation.[14]Though some scholars say that the things were dominated by the most influential members of the community, the heads of clans and wealthy families, other scholars describe how every free man could put forward his case for deliberation and share his opinions.[15]History professor Torgrim Titlestad describes how Norway, with the thing sites, displayed an advanced political system over a thousand years ago, one that was characterized by high participation and democratic ideologies.[16]These things also served as courts of law,[17]and if one of the smaller things could not reach agreement, the matter at hand would be brought to one of the bigger things, which encompassed larger areas.[14]The legislature of Norway is still known as the Storting (Big Thing) today.

Towards the end of the Viking age, royal power became centralized and the kings began to consolidate power and control over the assemblies. As a result, things lost most of their political role and began to function largely as courts in the later Middle Ages.[8]

Norway[edit]

In the period between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries,Norwaywent through a state-formation process that elevated the control and power of the king. On the regional level, it has been assumed that the king would have taken control of the organization of assemblies via local representatives. Today, few thing sites from Norway are known for certain, and as new assembly sites are found, scholars question whether these are old jurisdiction districts which the king used as a foundation for his organization or whether he created new administrative units.[18]In southeast Norway in particular, one hypothesis for why the king would have established new thing sites might be that they were a "strategic geopolitical response to the threat from the Danish king in the beginning of the 11th century."[19]Since the record of Norwegian thing sites is not comprehensive, it is not favorable to rely on archeological and topographical characteristics to determine whether they were established prior to the state-formation period.

In northern and southwestern Norway, there appears to have been a close association between chieftains' farms and sites interpreted to be assemblies or court sites. These areas were considered neutral ground where the landowning elite could meet for political andreligious activities.This view is based partly onSaganarratives of Viking chieftains as well as the distribution of large grave mounds.[20]Ultimately, this neutrality was important for thing participants' cooperation; royal officials required cooperation in order to look after the king's interests in local areas. In this regard, Norwegian things became an arena for cooperation between the royal representatives and the farmers.[21]

Based on what is known from later medieval documents, one deep-rooted custom of Norwegian law areas was the bearing of arms coming from the old tradition of the"weapon-take",which refers to the rattling of weapons at meetings to express agreement.[22]The Law of the Gulathing provides that the handling of these weapons should be controlled and regulated.[9]

This is seen atHaugating,the thing forVestfoldin Norway, which was located inTønsbergat Haugar (from theOld Norsehaugrmeaning hill or mound). This site was one of Norway's most important places for the proclamation of kings. In 1130,Harald Gillecalled together a meeting at the Haugating at which he was declared to be King of Norway.Sigurd Magnussonwas proclaimed king in 1193 at Haugating.Magnus VIIwas acclaimed hereditary King of Norway and Sweden at the Haugating in August 1319.[23]

Sweden[edit]

Þorgnýr the Lawspeakershowing the power of his office to the King of Sweden atGamla Uppsala,1018. The lawspeaker forced KingOlof Skötkonungnot only to accept peace with his enemy, KingOlaf the Stoutof Norway, but also to give his daughter to him in marriage. Illustration by C. Krogh.

Similar to Norway, thing sites inSwedenexperienced changes in administrative organization beginning in the late tenth and eleventh century. This was a result of the power struggle between the rising Christian royal power in the process of establishing itself and the old, local magnate families attempting to maintain power. The battle for power between the king and local magnates is most visible through runic inscriptions at thing sites, which were used to make important power statements.[24]Swedish assembly sites could be characterized by a number of typical features: large mounds, rune-stones, and crossings between roads by land or water to allow for greater accessibility.[25]

A famous incident took place whenÞorgnýr the Lawspeakertold the Swedish kingOlof Skötkonung(c. 980–1022) that the people, not the king, held power in Sweden; the king realized that he was powerless against the thing and gave in. Main things in Sweden were theThing of all Swedes,theThing of all Geatsand theLionga thing.

The island ofGotlandhad twenty things in late medieval times, each represented at the island-thing calledlandstingby its elected judge. New laws were decided at thelandsting,which also took other decisions regarding the island as a whole. Thelandsting's authority was successively eroded after the island was occupied by theTeutonic Orderin 1398. In late medieval times the thing was made up of twelve representatives for the farmers, free-holders or tenants.

Iceland[edit]

As a representative legislative body, the things inIcelandwere similar to those in greater Scandinavia, but they had a very clear organizational structure. Iceland was divided into four administrative quarters during the Viking Age with a fixed number of thirty-nine lawmakers (goðis): twelvegoðisin the northern quarter and nine each in the eastern, southern, and western quarters.

The main distinction between Iceland and greater Scandinavia lies in the organization of the Icelandic Althing (Alþingi), the main assembly during the Viking period and the Middle Ages. Unlike other European societies in the Middle Ages, Iceland was unique for relying on the Althing's legislative and judicial institutions at the national level rather than an executive branch of government.[26]Þingvellirwas the site of the Althing, and it was a place where people came together once a year to bring cases to court, render judgments, and discuss laws and politics.[27]At the annual Althing, the thirty-ninegoðisalong with nine others served as voting members of the Law Council (Lögrétta), a legislative assembly. The Lögrétta reviewed the laws which the lawspeaker recited, made new laws, set fines and punishments and were informed of sentences of outlawry and banishment that were passed by the courts in local spring assemblies.[26]

Besides the Althing, there were local assembly districts in each of the four quarters of Iceland, and each year a Spring Assembly (vorþing) was brought together by threegoðiswho lived in each local assembly district (samþingsgoðar). The four quarters also had courts (fjórðungsdómar) that met at the Althing after a constitutional reform around 965. Thegoðisappointed the judges for these courts from the farmers in their districts.[26]

Greenland[edit]

In the early twentieth century, scholars identified two potentialGreenlandicthing sites atBrattahlíðin Eiríksfjörður andGarðarin Einarsfjörður; both are located in theEastern Settlement of Greenland.These two sites were located through a combination of written sources and archeological evidence. Between these two Greenlandic sites, there are a number of overlapping characteristics that support the hypothesis that these booth sites are assemblies. However, not all "assembly features" previously seen in Scandinavia appear at every assembly site, and there are also characteristics that have either not been recorded in Greenland or are unique to Greenland.

The temporary turf structures of the Greenlandic booths have only been recorded in Iceland and would not have been seen at the assembly sites of Viking Age Sweden. Further, the booth sites at Brattahlíð and Garðar were located close to high-status farms. Taken together, it indicates that trade would have taken place at these sites, and given the sparse nature of the Greenlandic settlement, it is reasonable that the participants of the thing would have taken the opportunity for social interaction or trade when gathered with others.[28]

British Isles[edit]

In England, there isThingwallon theWirral.In theYorkshireand formerDanelawareas of England,wapentakes—another name for the same institution—were used in public records. Several places ending in the-by('village') place name suffix originally possessed their own laws,by-laws,and jurisdiction subject to the wapentake in which they served, which often extended over a surrounding ground called a thorpe ( "hamlet" ). If there was a riding surrounding the wapentake, the wapentake would merely be a local assembly coordinating the power of the riding. In Scandinavian York's case, it would be under the king's command at what is nowKing's Squarein York.

TheKingdom of East Angliawas in control of the Danelaw which had been organised as the Five Boroughs. The Five werefortificationsdefending land againstWessex,or against theVikings,depending on who ruled there; together withLindsey, Lincolnshire,which was divided into three ridings like Yorkshire. Again, the naming of the two roads named Inner and Outer Ting Tong on a hill-top in Devon between Budleigh Salterton, Woodbury and Exmouth is widely derided as fanciful, but may be derived from Thing-Tun, adun(hill fort) ortun(settlement) around the place where the Thing used to meet.

Thynghowewas an important Danelaw meeting place, or thing, located in Sherwood Forest,Nottinghamshire,England. It was lost to history until its rediscovery in 2005–06 by local history enthusiasts Lynda Mallett and Stuart Reddish. The site lies amidst the old oaks of an area known as the Birklands in Sherwood Forest. Experts believe it may also yield clues as to the boundary of the Anglo Saxon kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. English Heritage has recently inspected the site, and has confirmed it was known as "Thynghowe" in 1334 and 1609. It functioned as a place where people came to resolve disputes and settle issues. Thynghowe is an Old Norse name, although the site may be older than the Danelaw, perhaps even Bronze Age. The word "howe" is derived from the Old Norse wordhaugrmeaning 'mound'. This often indicates the presence of a prehistoric burial mound.

Frisia[edit]

Early-medievalFrisiaknew three levels thing assemblies: the highest level of the civitas, the middle level of thepagus,and the lowest level of the centena. The pagi are being considered the oldest building block, and probably took place three times a year and attended by all freemen. Early-medieval Frisia consisted of about 16 pagi. The other thing levels only became relevant during the Middle Ages.[29]The thing was led by law-speakers called asega, with the component-ameaning 'law' and the component-segameaning 'to say/speak'. Every pagus had its own thing but due to lack of written sources it is difficult to establish where the thing sites were. Thing sites are being presumed by historians at Naaldwijk in the pagus Maasland (Land of the River Meuse), at Katwijk in the pagus Rijnland (Land of the River Rhine), at Heemskerk in the pagus Kennemerland, at De Waal in the pagus Texel,[30]at Franeker in the pagus Westergo and at Dokkum in the pagusOostergo.[29]From the 12th century the thing called Upstalsboom took place on the level of the civitas. AtUpstalsboom,near the current town of Aurich in theEast Frisiaregion, Germany, delegates and judges from all seven Frisian Sealands used to gather once a year.

Place names[edit]

The assembly of things were typically held at a specially designated place, often a field or common, likeÞingvellir,the old location of the Icelandic thing (Alþingi). The parliament of theIsle of Manis still named after the meeting place of the thing,Tynwald,which etymologically is the same word as "þingvellir"(there is still an annual public assembly at Tynwald Hill each July 5, where the new Manx laws are read out and petitions delivered). Other equivalent place names can be found across northern Europe: inScotland,there isDingwallin theScottish Highlandsand Tingwall, occurring both inOrkneyandShetland,and further south there isTinwald,inDumfries and Gallowayand – in England –Thingwall,a village on theWirral Peninsula.In Sweden, there are several places namedTingvalla,which is the modern Swedish form of "Þingvellir", and the Norwegian equivalent is found in the place nameTingvoll.InDublin,Ireland,theThingmotewas a raised mound, 40 foot high and 240 foot in circumference, where the Norsemen assembled and made their laws. It stood on the south of the river, whereSaint Andrew's Churchnow stands, until 1685.[31]

Unanswered questions[edit]

It is contested between scholars to what extent things were sites of economic transactions and commerce as well as arenas for political and legal decisions. In Norway, it is clear that the assemblies functioned as an administrative level for economic transactions and taxes to the king.[32]The role of commerce at the thing is more undetermined in Iceland in particular because of the role of saga literature in influencing conclusions about things. Þingvellir was thought of as a trading place as a result of saga passages and law texts that refer to trade:

Intended to keep the peace in the region, the excursion was made every third summer, according to the law. An assembly of chieftains was called to choose the cases in which the kings were to pass judgment. Attending the assembly was regarded as an entertainment, as men attended from all the lands of which we have reports…
The assembly attracted a gathering of traders. People attended in large numbers, and there was plenty of entertainment, drinking and games, and festivities of all sorts. Nothing especially newsworthy occurred.[33]

As shown in theLaxdæla saga,meetings at Þingvellir required people to travel from long distances and gather together for an extended period of time, thus it was inevitable that entertainment, food, tools, and other goods would have played a role in the gatherings. The main question lies in whether trade was conducted in the assembly or on the margins of the gathering. Similarly, there are unanswered questions about the connection between trade and assembly in Greenland. Research on Scandinavian trade and assembly is burgeoning, and thus far evidence has mostly been found in written sources, such as the sagas, and place names, "such as the 'Disting' market that is said to have been held during the thing meetings at Gamla Uppsala in Sweden."[34]

National legislatures, current institutions and legal terms[edit]

The nationallegislaturesofIceland,NorwayandDenmarkall have names that incorporatething:

The legislatures of the self-governing territories ofÅland,Faroe Islands,GreenlandandIsle of Manalso have names that refer tothing:

  • Lagting– The Ålandic "Law Thing"
  • Løgting– The Faeroese "Law Thing"; also, the Faeroes are divided into sixvárting(administrative districts)[36]
  • Landsting– The Greenlandic "Land Thing"[37]
  • Tynwald– The Manx "Thing Meadow" on the Isle of Man,[38]formerly called "Ting"[35]

In addition,thingcan be found in the name of theSwedish Assembly of Finland(Svenska Finlands folkting), a semi-official body representing theFinland Swedish,and those of the three distinctelected Sámi assemblieswhich are all calledSametingin Norwegian and Swedish (Northern SamiSámediggi).

TheSwedishnational legislature,since medieval times,has borne a different style,Riksdag,which is cognate to the old name of the German national assembly,Reichstag.In Sweden, however,tingis used to name the subnational county councils, which are calledLandsting.That name was also used in medieval times for the tings that governed the historicalLandskapprovinces, that were superseded by thecountiesin the 17th century. The nametingis also found in the names of the first level instances of the Swedish and Finnishcourtsystem, which are calledtingsrätt(Finnish:käräjäoikeus), the 'court of the thing'.

Similarly, prior to 1953, theDanishlegislature was known asRigsdagen,which comprised the two houses of theFolketing"People's Thing" andLandsting"Land Thing". The latter, which was reserved for people of means, was abolished by the constitution of 1953.

The Norwegian parliament, theStorting,has historically been divided intotwo chambersnamed theLagtingand theOdelsting,which translates loosely into the "Thing of the Law" and the "Thing of theAllodial rights".However, for much of the Storting's recent history, the division into Lagting and Odelsting has been mostly ceremonial, and the Storting has generally operated as aunicameralparliament. A constitutional amendment passed in February 2007 abolished the Lagting and Odelsting, making thisde factounicameralism official following the2009 election.

On the lower administrative level the governing bodies on the county level in Norway are called Fylkesting, the Thing of the County. The names of the judicial courts ofNorwaycontain for the most part the affixting.The primary level of courts is called theTingrett,with the same meaning as the SwedishTingsrätt,and four of the sixNorwegian Courts of Appealare named after historical Norwegian regional Things (Frostating,Gulating,BorgartingandEidsivating).

InDutch,the wordgedingrefers to alawsuitortrial,most noticeably with the termkort geding(literally:short thing) which refers to aninjunction.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^Icelandic:þing;German:Ding;Old English:þing;Middle English:thing.
  2. ^Inþing,þis pronounced as unvoiced "th"/θ/.

References[edit]

  1. ^abcHarperOnline,s.v. "thing"
  2. ^Chantrell (ed.)Oxford,s.v. "thing".
  3. ^Barnhart (1995).
  4. ^abIversen, Frode (2020)."Law-territories in Scandinavia: reflections of tribal coalitions"."Rechtsräume" Historische und archäologische Annäherungen.:301–317.doi:10.5771/9783465144120-301.ISBN9783465144120.S2CID245524597.
  5. ^Nijdam (2021).Law and Political Organization of the Early Medieval Frisians (c. 600-800 CE).The Boydell Press, Woodbridge. p. 423.ISBN978-1-78327-561-8.
  6. ^Iversen (2013). "Concilium and Pagus – Revisiting the Early Germanic Thing System of Northern Europe".Journal of the North Atlantic(5).
  7. ^Oil version. There is a related watercolourThe Icelandic Thingin theBritish Museum.
  8. ^abcSanmark (2009a),p. 205.
  9. ^abØdegaard (2013),p. 44.
  10. ^Mehler (2015),p. 69.
  11. ^Ødegaard (2013),p. 51.
  12. ^Sanmark (2009a),pp. 209–10.
  13. ^abThe Thing Project (2011–2019)."What is a Thing? | THING Sites".Thingsites.com.Retrieved24 March2019.
  14. ^abØyrehagen Sunde, J. (2017)."ting – forsamling".Store norske leksikon.Retrieved24 March2019.
  15. ^Saga Bok (2017)."Demokrati i vikingtid?".Sagabok.no.Retrieved24 March2019.
  16. ^Landro, J. (2012)."Vikingene som demokratibyggere".Blogg.bt.no.Retrieved24 March2019.
  17. ^Gisle, J. (2018)."lagting".Store norske leksikon.Retrieved24 March2019.
  18. ^Ødegaard (2013),pp. 42–43.
  19. ^Ødegaard (2013),pp. 42–63.
  20. ^Storli, Inger (2010). “Court Sites of Arctic Norway: Remains of Thing Sites and Representations of Political Consolidation Processes in the Northern Germanic World during the First Millennium ad?”Norwegian Archaeological Review43, no. 2: pp. 128–144.
  21. ^Ødegaard (2013),p. 58.
  22. ^Mehler (2015),p. 72.
  23. ^Gansum & OestigaardRitual
  24. ^Sanmark (2009a),p. 235.
  25. ^Sanmark (2009a),p. 207.
  26. ^abcThorsson 2010,p. xlvi
  27. ^Mehler (2015),p. 77.
  28. ^Sanmark (2009b),pp. 178–92.
  29. ^abHines, John (2021).Frisians of the Early Middle Ages; Nijdam, H., Law and Political Organization of the Early Medieval Frisians (c. 600-800 CE).Cornwall: TJ Books Limited. pp. 151–154.ISBN9781783275618.
  30. ^Dijkstra, M.F.P. (2011).Rondom de mondingen van Rijn & Maas: landschap en bewoning tussen de 3e en 9e eeuw in Zuid-Holland, in het bijzonder de Oude Rijnstreek.Leiden: Sidestone Press. pp. 298–301.ISBN9789088900785.
  31. ^Collin (1913).
  32. ^Ødegaard (2013),p. 52.
  33. ^Thorsson 2010,pp. 286–287.
  34. ^Sanmark (2009b),p. 183.
  35. ^abcLatour (2005),p. 13.
  36. ^Thorsteinsson (2008),pp. 86–87.
  37. ^Greenland Home Rule Act(Translation),Danish Act No. 557 of 29 November 1978, c. 1, s. 1(2). Statsministeriet (Denmark). Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  38. ^Broderick, George (2003)."Tynwald: A Manx Cult-Site and Institution of pre-Scandinavian Origin?".Manx Studies.Retrieved16 August2015.

Further reading[edit]

  • Barnhart, Robert K.,ed. (1995).The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology.ISBN0-06-270084-7.
  • Chantrell, Glynnis, ed. (2004).Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories(Second ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Collin, James (1913)."Chapter 6".Life in Old Dublin(Second ed.). Dublin: James Duffy & Co.
  • Gansum, Terje; Oestigaard, Terje (2004)."The Ritual Stratigraphy of Monuments that Matter"(PDF).European Journal of Archaeology.7(1): 61–79.doi:10.1177/1461957104047994.S2CID55013924.
  • Harper, Douglas, ed. (2014)."Online Etymology Dictionary".Retrieved10 March2015.
  • Latour, Bruno (2005)."From Realpolitik to Dingpolitik: or How to Make Things Public"(PDF).In Bruno Latour; Peter Weibel (eds.).Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy.Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. pp. 4–44.
  • Mehler, Natascha (2015). "Þingvellir: A Place of Assembly and a Market?".Journal of the North Atlantic.801:69–81.doi:10.3721/037.002.sp806.S2CID146417817.
  • Sanmark, Alexandra(2009a). "Administrative Organisation and State Formation: A Case Study of Assembly Sites in Södermanland, Sweden".Medieval Archaeology.53(1): 205–241.doi:10.1179/007660909X12457506806289.S2CID161317676.
  • Sanmark, Alexandra (2009b). "The Case of the Greenlandic Assembly Sites".Journal of the North Atlantic.201:178–192.doi:10.3721/037.002.s218.S2CID162323119.
  • Thorsson, Örnólfur, ed. (2010).The Sagas of Icelanders: A Selection.New York: Penguin Books.
  • Thorsteinsson, Arne (2008). "Land Divisions, Land Rights, and Land Ownership in the Faeroe Islands". In Michael Jones; Kenneth R. Olwig (eds.).Nordic Landscapes: Region and Belonging on the Northern Edge of Europe.Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. pp. 77–105.
  • Ødegaard, Marie (2013). "State Formation, Administrative Areas, and Thing Sites in the Borgarthing Law Province, Southeast Norway".Journal of the North Atlantic.501.

External links[edit]

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