Nice (I initially learned this from my beloved Latin teacher) The meaning of this word has changed from particular to pleasant. Look it up and one definition is overdelicate or fastidious; fussy. I have run across this meaning several times in Kristin Lavransdatter. One character was described as being nice and hard on himself. Knowing this meaning is the only way that sentence makes sense. Austen readers beware! This use is quite common with Austen.
From Answers.com: The English
word ‘thing’, meaning “object” is also derived from this; the semantic evolution having been roughly “assembly” → “court” →
“case” → “business” → “purpose” → “object”.
A related word is moot, which was an ancient English representative meeting of freemen in the shire.
Room In the description of the great hall, the notes say: “Two rows of wooden pillars supported the roof. Between the line of pillars and the wall on each side was the sleeping-accommodation – two box-beds with doors at one end of the hall, and two broad fixed benches running the rest of the length of the hall. These benches were divided into sleeping-places for the warriors (originally called “rooms”), and were wide enough to admit of each man’s keeping his belongings by him, while his weapons hung on the wall above him.” Our word room comes from the Old English rǖm.
A Living Pencil 
This is very erudite 🙂
So, what’s the student up to this summer? Does he get time off, while *his* teacher is preparing?
Dana in GA
Fascinating reading. Of course, my take on the word “thing” is the perversion used randomly; “thingy” or “thingamajiggy”. It puts a whole new spin on it to think that a thingamajiggy can be an assembly of wild norsemen meeting freely in their shire! Love and blessings continue, M in SC
I just read “nice” used in this manner in “Emma” this afternoon. And because I had read your post yesterday, I didn’t even have to look at the footnote!
Carrie
Oh Carrie!! Thanks for telling me. That made my day!!
I am still working my way through this book, and I love it. I knew that about “thing,” and the girls and I used to refer to our monthly cycle as the “thing.” Now we use the code word “assembly”: “My assembly just began.”