I do rather like this “thing” series you’ve hit on.

I seem to remember that the “To” in “shinto” is related to “tao” in Chinese. Don’t know how that fits into your “thing” pattern, but it has something to do with “way of the gods”. The parallel there for me is that one of the early names of the CHristian religion was “the way” (”Tao”). The parallel holds in Chinese translations of the NT: where the English calls Jesus “the word” (a poor translation of the Greek “logos”) the Chinese calls Jesus “the Tao”.

I responded to a question about the meaning of “republic” on Answers.com, and remember that “res publica” means, “(the)
public thing.”

In the Germanic world, a “thing” can mean a legislative and judicial assembly, and Cosa Nostra is “our thing.”