T h i n g

Thing is interestingly an OE word that John Ayto1 says " The ancestral meaning of thing is 'time' …". He goes on to show that it links to 'stretch' 'tend' 'tense', until meaning 'a meeting' (the time and place) in OE usage, until it eventually became the subject of (the) meeting (thing to be talked of), and becoming recently 'entity/object' viz the/a thing. From Monostone's perspective(s) or point(s) of view it is a lovely word with wonderful baggage.  Smith takes it into his titling of the poor, 'beside-the-point' history of his "utterance".

1. J Ayto, 'Dictionary of Word Origins',(Colombia Marketing 1990).

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