ridan

Forms

rīdan (strong class 1; third-person singular present rītt, past singular rād, past plural ridon)^[1] Past plural also riodan in Beowulf.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *rīdan, from Proto-Germanic *rīdaną (“to ride”).^[1][3] The strong verb is found across Germanic: Old Norse ríða, Old Frisian rīda, Old Saxon rīdan and Old High German rītan.^[3][4][5][6]

Kroonen derives the Germanic verb from a present Proto-Indo-European *Hreydʰ-, the source also of Old Irish rédid (“to ride”), of Welsh rhwydd-hau (“to hurry”) and of Lithuanian riedėti (“to roll”).^[3] Orel compares the same Irish, Welsh and Lithuanian words,^[4] and Holthausen and Köbler set the root as Pokorny's *reidʰ- “to ride, move”.^[5][6] The verb belongs to the first class of strong verbs, with the vowels ī – ā – i – i in its principal parts.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is recorded from about 900: in the Parker manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, written from s. ix/x, the annal for 755 tells how the king's thegns, hearing in the morning that their lord had been killed, þa ridon hie þider “then they rode there”.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is riding on horseback, and Bosworth and Toller quote it from the Gospels (the king who rides on an ass), Bede and the laws; the present participle rīdende renders Latin equester and equites.^[9] From there it was used of other ways of being carried: a ship riding over the waves, the pillar of fire moving aloft in Exodus, a senator riding in a chariot in the Orosius.^[9][10] Without any idea of going forward it meant to swing or rock, as a ship rides at anchor or a hanged man swings on the gallows: in Beowulf the old man grieves þæt his byre rīde giong on galgan.^[9][2]

In the laws it is the riding out of men sent to enforce a judgement, and Liebermann thinks it sometimes means only “to go, travel”, without ruling out other ways of moving.^[11] The word lived on as Middle English riden, first recorded in the Peterborough Chronicle for 1123, now English ride.^[12][13]

Timeline

• s. ix/x – þa ridon hie þider in the annal for 755 of the Parker Chronicle.^[7][8]
• s. x in. or xi¹ – Aidan, who walked more often than he rode, in the Old English Bede.^[14][8]
• s. x² – ic on wloncum wicge rīde in a riddle of the Exeter Book.^[15][9]
• s. x/xi – a son who swings on the gallows, and a ship riding at anchor, in the Beowulf manuscript.^[16][2]
• 1123 – Middle English Se king rad in his der fald in the Peterborough Chronicle.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. to ride on horseback.^[9][6]
2. to travel, be carried by other means: of a ship on the waves, of a carriage.^[9][10]
3. to swing or rock; to ride at anchor; to hang on the gallows.^[9][2]
4. (of fetters) to press, chafe.^[17][6]
5. (law) to ride out to enforce a judgement; to go, travel.^[11]

Word family

• ārīdan
• berīdan
• ġerīdan
• forerīdan
• tōrīdan
• ūtrīdan
• faroþrīdende

Descendants

• Middle English riden (→ English ride)^[1]

Related words

• rād
• ridda

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. rīdan
3. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 412
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 305
5. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 259
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. rīdan
7. ^ 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. 83
8. ^ a b c Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
9. ^ 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. 795
10. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 687
11. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 184
12. ^ a b 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)
13. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ 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
15. ^ 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. 223
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. 344
17. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 162