Etymologically
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rædan

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈræː.dɑn/[1]

Forms

rǣdan (strong class 7; third-person singular present rǣtt, past singular rēd, past plural rēdon)[1] West Saxon rǣdan answers to Kentish rēdan and Northumbrian rēda.[2] The rare strong past is reord (Anglian) or rēd; the weak past is rǣdde.[3][4]

Etymology

The verb continues a strong verb “to advise” and a weak verb “to make ready”, which fell together in the present.[1][3] The strong verb is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *rādan, from Proto-Germanic *rēdaną (“to advise, to decide”).[1][2] Its cognates are Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌳𐌰𐌽 (garedan, “to plan, intend”), Old Norse ráða, Old Frisian rēda, Old Saxon rādan and Old High German rātan.[5][6] Kroonen reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *Hréh₁dʰ-e-, from a root Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₁dʰ- (“to think, arrange”).[5][1] The weak verb is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *raidijan, from *raidijaną (“to make ready”).[1][6] Bosworth–Toller compares Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (garaidjan, “to order, appoint”) and Old High German antreitjan (“to put in order”).[3]

Proto-Germanic /ē/ became Northwest Germanic /ā/, and this was fronted to West Saxon ⟨ǣ⟩, while Kentish and Northumbrian have ⟨ē⟩.[2] The Anglian past reord keeps a reduplicated stem *rerōd ~ *rerd-.[4] In early West Saxon only strong pasts are recorded; late West Saxon made the verb weak.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in the Pastoral Care of 890×897 (Hatton 20), of people who speculate more than they need and rædað sume leasunge on ðære smeaunge “conceive some falsehood in their speculation”.[8][9] Toller's Supplement quotes the passage for the sense “to have an idea, suppose”.[10]

Semantic evolution

The oldest senses are those of counsel: to advise, to consult and deliberate, to decide and decree, and to rule or control.[3][11] In the laws it is to determine or to take counsel about something.[12] From “to suppose” it came to mean to guess, to solve a riddle, to interpret a dream and to foresee fate, and so to read a book, or read aloud.[10][13] In glosses it renders Latin legō and lēctitō.[6]

Both lines of sense went on in Middle English reden: “to read” is now English read, and “to advise” survives as the archaic rede.[14][15][1]

Timeline

  • 890×897 – rædað sume leasunge “conceive some falsehood” in the Pastoral Care.[8][9]
  • s. x in. or xi¹ – þeahtedon & ræddon, hwæt him to donne wære “deliberated and took counsel about what they should do” in the Old English Bede.[16][9]
  • s. x² – mænige Iudeas þæt gewrit ræddon “many Jews read the inscription” in a Vercelli homily.[17][9]
  • s. x² – Næfre gerefan rædað þine eafora yrfe “never shall stewards control your heirs' inheritance” in Genesis A.[18][9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. to advise, counsel.[3][1]
  2. to consult, deliberate.[3][13]
  3. to decide, decree.[3][12][1]
  4. to rule, control, possess.[11][13]
  5. to suppose; to guess; to solve a riddle, interpret.[10][1]
  6. to read, read aloud.[13][6][1]

Word family

  • rǣd
  • rǣdels
  • ārǣdan
  • berǣdan
  • forrǣdan
  • ġerǣdan
  • misrǣdan
  • oferrǣdan
  • ondrǣdan

Descendants

  • Middle English reden (→ English read; English rede; Scots rede)[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 149
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 782
  4. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 92
  5. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 408
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. rǣdan
  7. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 346
  8. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
  9. ^ a b c d e Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
  10. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 683
  11. ^ a b Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. rǣdan
  12. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 180
  13. ^ a b c d Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 160
  14. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  15. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  16. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 531
  17. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 704
  18. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 513