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Origin and history of thing

thing(n.)

Middle English thing, from Old English þing, þingc "meeting, assembly, council, discussion," also "action, deed to be done." In late Old English, "concrete inanimate object; that which exists by itself; entity, being, creature;" also "event."

The sense evolution probably is from the notion of the "matter" or subject of deliberation in an assembly. Compare French chose, Spanish cosa "thing," from Latin causa "judicial process, lawsuit, case" (see cause (n.)); Latin res "affair, thing," also "case at law, cause."

It is reconstructed to be from Proto-Germanic *thinga- "assembly" (source also of Old Frisian thing "assembly, council, suit, matter, thing," Middle Dutch dinc "court-day, suit, plea, concern, affair, thing," Dutch ding "thing," Old High German ding "public assembly for judgment and business, lawsuit," German Ding "affair, matter, thing," Old Norse þing "public assembly").

The Germanic word is perhaps (Watkins, Boutkan) literally "appointed time," from a PIE *tenk- (1), from root *ten- "stretch," perhaps on notion of "stretch of time for a meeting or assembly."

The sense of "meeting, assembly" disappeared by early Middle English but is preserved in second element of hustings and in Icelandic, as in Althing, the nation's general assembly.

In reference to a living creature or person by early 12c., often affectionately or pityingly (young thing is from c. 1200). Thing has been used colloquially since c. 1600 to indicate what inanimate object the speaker can't name at the moment, often with meaningless elaborating suffixes (see thingamajig).

Related: Things (c. 1300 as "personal possessions"). Adjective thingal (1857) is rarely used. The thing "what's stylish or fashionable" is recorded from 1762. The phrase do your thing "follow your particular predilection," though associated since 1960s with hippie-speak, is attested from 1841 (Emerson).

Entries linking to thing

cause(n.)

c. 1200, "reason or motive for a decision, grounds for action; motive," from Old French cause "cause, reason; lawsuit, case in law" (12c.), and directly from Latin causa "a cause; a reason; interest; judicial process, lawsuit," which is of unknown origin.

From mid-14c. as "cause of an effect; source, origin." From late 14c. as "that which affords opportunity for a cause to operate, occasion;" also "reason for something taking place or for something being so; rational explanation." Also late 14c. as "proper or adequate reason, justification for an action." The sense of "matter of interest or concern; a side taken in controversy" is from c. 1300. Cause célèbre "celebrated legal case" is 1763, from French. Common cause "a shared object or aim" is by 1620s.

hustings(n.)

Old English husting "meeting, court, tribunal," from Old Norse husðing "council," from hus "house" (see house (n.)) + ðing "assembly" (see thing); so called because it was a meeting of the men who formed the "household" of a nobleman or king. The native Anglo-Saxon word for this was folc-gemot. The plural became the usual form c. 1500; sense of "temporary platform for political speeches" developed by 1719, apparently from London's Court of Hustings, presided over by the Lord Mayor, which was held on a platform in the Guildhall. This sense then broadened by mid-19c. to "the election process generally."

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advocate
mid-14c., "one whose profession is to plead cases in a court of justice," a technical term from Roman law, from Old French avocat "barrister, advocate, spokesman," from Latin advocatus "one called to aid (another); a pleader (on one's behalf), advocate," noun use of past particip
nothing
"no thing, not any thing, not something," Middle English, from Old English naþing, naðinc, from nan "not one" (see none) + þing "thing" (see thing). Meaning "insignificant thing, thing of no consequence" is from c. 1600. As an adverb, "not at all, in no degree," late Old English.
something
Middle English som-thing, from Old English sum þinge "a certain but unknown thing, a thing indefinitely considered;" see some + thing. Hyphenated from c. 1300; one word from 17c. From c. 1200 as "a part or portion more or less," also "unspecified act or deed." Formerly also
wight
wiht "living being, creature, person; something, anything," from Proto-Germanic *wihti- (source also of Old Saxon wiht "thing..., demon," Dutch wicht "a little child," Old High German wiht "thing, creature, demon," German Wicht "creature, little child...," Old Norse vettr "thing, creature," Swedish vätte "spirit of the earth, gnome," Gothic waihts "something"), from PIE *wekti...- "thing, creature" (source also of Old Church Slavonic vešti "a thing")....
anathema
1520s, "an accursed thing," from Latin anathema "an excommunicated person; the curse of excommunication," from Ecclesiastical...Greek anathema "a thing accursed," a slight variation of classical Greek anathama, which meant merely "a thing devoted,"...literally "a thing set up (to the gods)," such as a votive offering in a temple, from ana "up" (see ana-) + tithenai "to...By the time it reached Late Latin the meaning of the Greek word had progressed through "thing devoted to evil," to "thing...
sake
; blame, sin, guilt;" from Old English sacu "a cause at law, crime, dispute, guilt," from Proto-Germanic *sako "affair, thing...accusation" (source also of Old Norse sök "charge, lawsuit, effect, cause," Old Frisian seke "strife, dispute, matter, thing...," Dutch zaak "lawsuit, cause, sake, thing," German Sache "thing, matter, affair, cause"), from PIE root *sag- "to investigate...it survives largely in phrases for the sake of and for _______'s sake "out of consideration or regard for" a person or thing...
counterpart
.)) + partie "copy of a person or thing," originally fem. past participle of partir "to divide" (see party (n.))....Sense of "person or thing exactly resembling another" is from 1670s; that of "person or thing serving as the equivalent of...
content
early 15c., "to rest or be satisfied; to give satisfaction to," from Old French contenter (from content (adj.) "satisfied") and Medieval Latin contentare, both from Latin contentus "contained; satisfied," past participle of continere "to hold together, enclose," from assimilated
essential
mid-14c., "that is such by its essence," from Late Latin essentialis, from essentia "being, essence," abstract noun formed (to translate Greek ousia "being, essence") from essent-, present participle stem of esse "to be," from PIE root *es- "to be." Meaning "pertaining to essence
course
c. 1300, "onward movement, motion forward, a running in a prescribed direction or over a prescribed distance; path or distance prescribed for a race, a race-course" from Old French cors "course; run, running; flow of a river" (12c.), from Latin cursus "a running; a journey; direc

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