thingman
One of several men gathered at a thing, for example to settle a dispute over a debt.
Noun
- One of several men gathered at a thing, for example to settle a dispute over a debt.
- Now if the debtor pleads that "I do not know the law but I will comply with whatever the thingmen think lawful," he [the creditor] must summon him before the thing after five nights, at the shortest, and five times five...
- men serving as the army, particularly the mercenary army, (of a specific ruler).
- A thingman and chieftain owed each other duties of support. […] The ideal is well stated by Eyjolf to his own thingmen as he requests their support in his struggles against the Ljosvetning kin group […] - 1989, Law and...
Origin
Calque of Old Norse thingman, which is þing (“thing”) + maðr (“man”), or else a back-formation from "thingmen", which was borrowed morpheme for morpheme from þingmenn (“thingmen”).