þingsins

þingsins is the genitive singular form of the Icelandic noun þing, meaning the assembly or parliament. The root þing denotes a formal gathering where laws are proposed, debated and decided, and where disputes could be resolved. In Old Norse and Icelandic usage, a þing was a lawful gathering that governed a region or community, and the term underpinned many medieval legal and political structures.

In Icelandic history, the best-known example of a þing is the Alþingi, the national parliament founded around 930 CE at Thingvellir. The Alþingi gathered free men to create laws, judge disputes and oversee administration, reflecting the broader Norse tradition of thing-based governance. While Alþingi is the modern name for Iceland’s parliament, the generic word þing continues to appear in historical or legal contexts, and its genitive form þingsins is used to indicate possession by the assembly, such as laws or decrees attributed to the þing: lög þingsins (the laws of the assembly).

Usage and meaning in contemporary Icelandic remain distinctly tied to the idea of a deliberative assembly, rather than a direct reference to a specific institution. The newer term Alþingi is preferred for the modern parliament, while þingsins serves mainly in formal, legal or historical phrases to denote what belongs to the þing or to discuss matters related to the thing itself.

In sum, þingsins represents the genitive of the historic and linguistic concept of a thing or assembly—the gathering that legislates, adjudicates and governs in Norse and Icelandic tradition.