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Main article: Medieval Scandinavian laws

A thing or ting (Old Norse, Old English and Icelandic: þing; other modern Scandinavian languages: ting) was the governing assembly in Germanic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers. Terminology and usage As a cultural term "Scandinavia" has no official definition and is subject to usage by those who identify with the culture in question as well The Scandinavian Mountains in Swedish Skanderna, Fjällen ("the Fells quot or Kölen, and in Norwegian Kjølen, The Scandinavian Peninsula is a geographic region in northern Europe, consisting principally of the Mainland territories of Norway and Sweden Viking Age is the term denoting the years from about 700 to 1066 in European history. The Varangians or Varyags ( Old Norse: Væringjar Greek: Βάραγγοι Βαριάγοι Váraggoi / Varyágoi, Ukrainian A Viking is one of the Norse ( Scandinavian Explorers Warriors Merchants, and pirates who raided and colonized wide areas The Christianization of Scandinavia refers to the process of conversion to Christianity of the Scandinavian people starting in the 8th century with The Kalmar Union ( Danish, Norwegian and Swedish: Kalmarunionen) is a historiographical term meaning a series of Personal Denmark–Norway ( Danish: Danmark-Norge Norwegian: Danmark-Norge or Danmark-Noreg is the historiographical name for a former political entity union Sweden–Finland is a historiographical term used especially in Finland, to refer to the Swedish Kingdom from the Kalmar Union to the The Union between Sweden and Norway (Unionen mellan Sverige och Norge Unionen mellom Norge og Sverige or the Swedish-Norwegian Kingdom was the union of the kingdoms of The history of Scandinavia is the history of the Nordic countries — Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland. This article covers the history of the Kingdom of Denmark and of the areas comprising modern-day Denmark. From around the time of the Roman Empire until about 800 AD many stone inscriptions can be found written in Runes Modern Sweden emerged out of the Kalmar Union formed in 1397 and by the unification of the country by King Gustav Vasa in the 16th century This article is about the history of Iceland and the areas comprising modern day Iceland. The history of Greenland, the world's largest island is the history of life under extreme Arctic conditions an Ice cap covers about 95 percent of the island Pre-Norse history The early details of Faroese history are rather nebulous The Kalmar Union ( Danish, Norwegian and Swedish: Kalmarunionen) is a historiographical term meaning a series of Personal The history of Karelia dates to 7000-6000 BC. Mining began between 1 and 1000 AD Scandinavism (also called Pan-Scandinavianism) and Nordism are literary and political movements that support various degrees of cooperation between the Scandinavian The Scandinavian Monetary Union (Skandinaviska myntunionen Skandinaviske møntunion Skandinaviske myntunion was a Monetary union formed by Sweden and Denmark A Scandinavian defence union that would include Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark was planned between the four countries after World History For the Royal League 2004-05 tournament the twelve participating teams were initially placed into three groups Scandinavian Airlines System ( SAS) is a multi-national Airline for Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and the leading carrier in the The Medieval Scandinavian laws were originally memorized by the Lawspeakers but after the end of the Viking Age they were committed to writing Old Norse is the North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age Icelandic ( is a North Germanic language, the language of Iceland. The North Germanic languages or Scandinavian languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages, a sub-family of the Indo-European languages The Germanic peoples are a historical group of Indo-European -speaking peoples originating in Northern Europe and identified by their use of the Germanic See also Medieval Scandinavian laws Lawspeaker ( Swedish: lagman, Old Swedish: laghmaþer or laghman, Danish Today the term lives on in the official names of national legislatures and political and judicial institutions in the North-Germanic countries.

Contents

Etymology

The Old Norse, Old Frisian and Old English þing with the meaning "assembly" is identical in origin to the English word thing, German Ding, Dutch ding, and modern Scandinavian ting when meaning "object". [1] They are derived from Common Germanic *þengan meaning "appointed time", and some suggest an origin in Proto-Indo-European *ten-, "stretch", as in a "stretch of time for an assembly". Proto-Germanic, or Common Germanic, is the hypothetical common ancestor ( Proto-language) of all the Germanic languages such as modern English [1] The evolution of the word thing from "assembly" to "object" is paralleled in the evolution of the Latin causa ("judicial lawsuit") to modern French chose, Spanish/Italian cosa and Portuguese coisa (all meaning "object" or "thing"). Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. [1] [2]

In English the term is attested from 685 to 686 in 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 meaning of personal possessions, commonly in plural (possibly influenced by Old Icelandic things meaning objects, articles, or valuables), first appears recorded in Middle English in around 1300. Old Norse is the North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age Middle English is the name given by Historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion of [3]

Viking and medieval society

The Icelandic alþing in session, as imagined in the 1870s by British artist W. G. Collingwood.
The Icelandic alþing in session, as imagined in the 1870s by British artist W. G. Collingwood. The Alþingi, Anglicized variously as Althing or Althingi, is the national Parliament —literally “(the all- thing ”—of William Gershom Collingwood, ( 6 August 1854, Liverpool - 1 October 1932) was an author artist antiquary and was also Professor
Þorgnýr the Lawspeaker speaks at Uppsala, by C. Krogh
Þorgnýr the Lawspeaker speaks at Uppsala, by C. Krogh
Illustration of a thing.
Illustration of a thing.

In the pre-Christian clan-culture of Scandinavia the members of a clan were obliged to avenge injuries against their dead and mutilated relatives. The Scandinavian clan or ætt (ˈɛtt in Old Norse) was a social group based on common descent or on the formal acceptance into the group at a þing A balancing structure was necessary to reduce tribal feuds and avoid social anarchy. We know from the North-Germanic cultures the balancing institution was the ting although similar assemblies are reported also from other Germanic peoples and others. The Germanic peoples are a historical group of Indo-European -speaking peoples originating in Northern Europe and identified by their use of the Germanic

The ting was the assembly of the free people of a country, province or a hundred (hundare/härad/herred). There were consequently hierarchies of tings, so that the local tings were represented at the higher-level ting, for a province or land. At the ting, disputes were solved and political decisions were made. The place for the ting was often also the place for public religious rites and for commerce.

The ting met at regular intervals, legislated, elected chieftains and kings, and judged according to the law, which was memorized and recited by the "law speaker" (the judge). In pre-Christian times chieftains were both political and religious leaders tasked to use their luck to secure the people fred (translated "good times" - nowadays actually Germanic monarchy, also called barbarian monarchy, was a monarchical systemof government which was predominant among the Germanic tribes of Late Antiquity See also Medieval Scandinavian laws Lawspeaker ( Swedish: lagman, Old Swedish: laghmaþer or laghman, Danish The ting's negotiations were presided over by the law speaker and the chieftain or the king. In reality the ting was of course dominated by the most influential members of the community, the heads of clans and wealthy families, but in theory one-man one-vote was the rule. A famous incident took place when Þorgnýr the Lawspeaker told the Swedish king Olof Skötkonung that it was the people that held power in Sweden and not the king. Þorgnýr the Lawspeaker ( Old Icelandic: Þorgnýr lögmaðr, Swedish: Torgny Lagman) is the name of one of at least three generations of Olof Skötkonung ( Old Icelandic: Óláfr sænski, Old Swedish: Olawær skotkonongær) was the son of Eric the Victorious and The king realized that he was powerless against the ting and gave in. Main things in Sweden were the Thing of all Swedes, the Thing of all Geats and the Lionga thing. Thing of all Swedes ( allra Svía þing, Þing allra Svía, or Disaþing, Kyndilþing) was the thing (general assembly which was held The Thing of all Geats (Swedish Alla götars ting) was the thing (general assembly which was held from pre-historic times to the Middle Ages in Skara Lionga thing was the general assembly of the people of Östergötland in medieval Sweden.

The island of Gotland, as an example, had in late medieval time twenty tings, each represented at the island-ting called landsting by its elected judge. is a county, province and municipality of Sweden and the largest Island in the Baltic Sea. New laws were decided at the landsting, which also took other decisions regarding the island as a whole. The landsting's authority was successively eroded after the island was occupied by the Teutonic Order in 1398. The Teutonic Order is a German Roman Catholic religious order. In late medieval times the ting-court consisted of twelve representatives for the farmers, free-holders or tenants.

The assembly of the ting was typically held at a specially designated place, often a field or common, like þingvellir, the old location of the Icelandic Ting. is '''''Þingvellir''''' ( Þing: 'parliament' is ''vellir'' 'meadows'(sometimes transliterated Thingvellir) is a place in Bláskógarbyggð in southwestern The parliament of the Isle of Man is still named after the meeting place of the ting, Tynwald, which etymologically is the same word as "þingvellir"[4]. The Isle of Man (Ellan Vannin ˈɛlʲən ˈvanɪn or Mann (Mannin) is a self-governing Crown dependency, located in the Irish Sea at the geographical Tynwald (Tinvaal or more formally the High Court of Tynwald (Ard-whaiyl Tinvaal is the Bicameral Legislature of the Isle of Man. Other equivalent placenames can be found across northern Europe; in Scotland, there is Dingwall in the Highlands and Tingwall, occurring both in Orkney and Shetland. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Dingwall ( Inbhir Pheofharain in Gaelic) is a town and former Royal burgh in the highlands of Scotland. The Scottish Highlands ( Scottish Gaelic: A' Ghàidhealtachd, Scots: Hielans) include the rugged and Mountainous Tingwall may refer to Tingwall Orkney Tingwall Shetland Tingwall Airport, Shetland Islands Orkney (also known as the Orkney Islands or incorrectly the Orkneys) is an Archipelago in northern Scotland, situated 10 miles (16 km north Shetland (formerly spelled Zetland, from etland; Old Norse non Hjaltland; Sealtainn is an Archipelago off the northeast coast of In Sweden, there are several places named Tingvalla, which is the modern Swedish form of "þingvellir", and the Norwegian equivalent is found in the placename Tingvoll. "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. Tingvoll is a municipality in the county of Møre og Romsdal, Norway. In Dublin, Ireland the Thingmote was a raised mound, 40 foot high and 240 foot in circumference, where the Norsemen assembled and made their laws. Dublin (ˈdʌblɨn/ /ˈdʊblɨn or /ˈdʊbəlɪn/, bˠalʲə aːha klʲiəh or cliə(ɸ is both the largest city and capital of Ireland. Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who speak one of the North Germanic languages as their native language It stood on the south of the river, adjacent to Dublin Castle, until 1685. Dublin Castle (Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath off Dame Street, Dublin, Ireland, is a major Irish governmental complex formerly the fortified [5] "The Thingmote" is the name of a pub that currently stands on the site.

Similarly in England, there is Thingwall on the Wirral. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Thingwall is a village on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England. Wirral or the Wirral (ˈwɪrəl is a Peninsula in the north west of England. In the Yorkshire and former Danelaw areas of England, which like Wirral and north west England were subject to much Norse invasion and settlement, wapentakes (another name for the same institution) were, until recently, still used in public records. Yorkshire is a historic county of Northern England and the largest in Great Britain. The Danelaw, as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (also known as the Danelagh; Old English: Dena lagu; Danish: Several places ending in the "by"(village) placename suffix originally possessed their own law (bylaw) and jurisdiction subject to the wapentake in which they served, which often extended over a surrounding ground called a "thorpe" (hamlet). A bylaw (sometimes also spelled by-law or byelaw) most commonly refers to a city or municipal law or ordinance passed under the authority of a Charter If there was a riding surrounding the wapentake, the wapentake would merely be a local assembly coordinating the power of the Riding, which in Jorvik's case, would be under the king's command at what is now King's Square in York. A riding is an administrative jurisdiction or electoral district particularly in several current or former Commonwealth countries York ( is an historic Walled city sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The Kingdom of East Anglia was in control of the Danelaw which had been organised as the Five Boroughs. East Anglia is often used as a shorthand for the Kingdom of the East Angles. Those Five were martial law fortresses defending land against Wessex, or against the Vikings, depending on who ruled there; together with Lindsey, which was divided into three ridings like Yorkshire. Martial law is the system of rules that takes effect when the military takes control of the normal administration of justice Fortifications are Military Constructions and Buildings designed for defense in Warfare Humans have constructed defensive works for West Saxon redirects here For other meanings of Wessex or West Saxon see Wessex (disambiguation. A Viking is one of the Norse ( Scandinavian Explorers Warriors Merchants, and pirates who raided and colonized wide areas Lindsey was a unit of local government until 1974 in Lincolnshire, England, covering the northern part of the county

National parliaments and current institutions

The national parliaments of Iceland, Norway and Denmark all have names that incorporate thing:

The parliaments of the self-governing territories of Åland, Faroe Islands, Greenland and Isle of Man also have names that refer to thing. TalkParliament#Screen-size. -->A  parliament is a Legislature, especially in those Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland ( ( Ísland or Lýðveldið Ísland ( Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional The Kingdom of Denmark ( ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊ (archaic ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊ commonly known as Denmark, is a country in the Scandinavian region of northern Europe The Alþingi, Anglicized variously as Althing or Althingi, is the national Parliament —literally “(the all- thing ”—of The Folketing, or Folketinget, is the national Parliament of Denmark. The Storting ( Stortinget, literally "the Great Thing /Assembly" is the Norwegian Parliament, and is located in the capital city The Faroe Islands or Faeroe Islands or simply Faroe(s or Faeroes (Føroyar meaning " Sheep Islands" Færøerne Old Norse Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat meaning "Land of the Greenlanders" Grønland is a self-governing Danish Province located between the The Isle of Man (Ellan Vannin ˈɛlʲən ˈvanɪn or Mann (Mannin) is a self-governing Crown dependency, located in the Irish Sea at the geographical

The Swedish national parliament, since medieval times, has borne a different style, Riksdag, which is cognate to the old name of the German national assembly, Reichstag. The Lagting, or Lagtinget, is the parliament of Åland, an autonomous demilitarised and unilingually Swedish territory of Finland. The Løgting, or determined in Faroese Løgtingið (full official name Føroya løgting "Løgting of the Faroes" is the Parliament The Parliament of Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaanni Inatsisartut Grønlands Landsting is the Legislature (in this case a Parliament) in the Government of Tynwald (Tinvaal or more formally the High Court of Tynwald (Ard-whaiyl Tinvaal is the Bicameral Legislature of the Isle of Man. Dingwall ( Inbhir Pheofharain in Gaelic) is a town and former Royal burgh in the highlands of Scotland. Tingwall, ( Old Norse: Þingvollr = Field of the Thing (assembly is a hamlet and parish in Shetland mostly on Mainland. Shetland (formerly spelled Zetland, from etland; Old Norse non Hjaltland; Sealtainn is an Archipelago off the northeast coast of "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. The Riksdag is the official Swedish term of the Parliament of Sweden and the Parliament of Finland (in Finland alongside The Reichstag ( German for "Imperial Diet " was the Parliament of the Holy Roman Empire, the North German Confederation, In Sweden ting is however used to name the subnational county councils, which are called Landsting. A County Council, or Landsting, is an elected assembly of a County in Sweden. That name was also used in medieval times for the tings that governed the historical Landskap provinces, that were superseded by the counties in the 17th century. The provinces of Sweden, Landskap, are historical geographical and cultural regions The Counties of Sweden, or Län, are the first level administrative and political Subdivisions of Sweden. As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 17th Century was that Century which lasted from 1601 - 1700 in the Gregorian calendar The name ting is also found in the names of the first level instances of the Swedish and Finnish court system, which are called Tingsrätt (Finnish: käräjäoikeus), the Court of the Thing. A court is a forum used by a power base to adjudicate disputes and dispense civil, labour administrative and criminal Justice under its Finnish ( or suomen kieli) is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland (92% As of 2006) and by ethnic Finns outside

Similarly, prior to 1953, the Danish parliamentary system was the Rigsdag, which comprised the two houses of the Folketing (People's Thing) and the Landsting (Land Thing). The Rigsdag was the name of the Parliament of Denmark from 1849 to 1953 The Folketing, or Folketinget, is the national Parliament of Denmark. The latter, which was reserved for people of means, was abolished by the constitution of 1953.

Folkting is also the name of the Swedish Assembly of Finland, a semi-official body representing the Swedish-speaking population (Svenskfinland or "Swedish Finland"). The Swedish Assembly of Finland ( Swedish: Svenska Finlands Folkting or Folktinget, Finnish: Suomenruotsalaiset kansankäräjät, Finland Swedish is a general term for the closely related cluster of Dialects of Swedish spoken in Finland by Swedish-speaking Finns as their

In addition, there are three distinct elected Sami assemblies that are all called Sameting in Norwegian and Swedish. SAMI (Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange is a Microsoft accessibility initiative released in 1998 The Sami Parliaments ( Sámediggi in Northern Sami, Sämitigge in Inari Sami, Sää´mte´ǧǧ in Skolt

The Norwegian parliament, Storting, is divided into two chambers named the Lagting and the Odelsting, which translates loosely into the Thing of the Law and the Thing of the Lords. In Government, bicameralism (bi + Latin la ''camera'' chamber is the practice of having two legislative or Parliamentary chambers Thus a bicameral 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 of Norway contain for the most part the affix ting. Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional The primary level of courts is called the Tingrett, with the same meaning as the Swedish Tingsrätt, and four of the six Norwegian Courts of Appeal are named after historical Norwegian regional Things. The structure of the Courts of Justice in Norway is pyramidic and hierarchic with the Supreme Court at the apex (Frostating, Gulating, Borgarting and Eidsivating).

References

  1. ^ a b c Douglas Harper's Online Etymological Dictionary, thieve to throat.
  2. ^ Wiktionary
  3. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology (1995) ISBN 0062700847
  4. ^ Definition at Writers events. Robert K Barnhart (1933 &ndash April 2007 was an American Lexicographer and editor of various specialized Dictionaries.
  5. ^ Collin, James, Life in Old Dublin, James Duffy and Co. , Dublin, 1913. Chapters of Dublin History

See also

References

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