aid

Pronunciation

• IPA: /eɪd/^[1]

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English aiden,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French aidier (“to help, assist”),^[2][4] from Latin adiūtāre, frequentative of adiuvāre (“to give help to”),^[2][4][5] from ad (“to”) and iuvāre (“to help, give strength”),^[2][4] of uncertain origin,^[4] perhaps related to the root of iuvenis (“young person”).^[2] The noun is from Old French aide, from Late Latin adiūta.^[4][2] It is related to adjutant and aide.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb, to help: about 1400 in Etymonline and probably before 1400 in Barnhart.^[2][4] The noun, a wartime tax to the Crown: probably 1419, and “help, support” from 1430.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

In medieval England an aid was also a payment owed by a vassal to his lord.^[6][7] A person who helps is from the 1560s,^[2] and a thing by which help is given, such as a hearing aid, from the 1590s.^[2][8] In aid of, “in support of a cause or charity”, is from 1837, and in colloquial British use “for the purpose of”, as in what's this in aid of?.^[8][9] Material help from one country to another is from 1940.^[2] In Shropshire dialect an aid was a gutter cut across a ploughed field.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – verb, to help.^[2]
• 1419 – noun, a wartime tax.^[4]
• 1430 – help, support.^[4]
• 1560s – a helper.^[2]
• 1590s – a device that helps.^[2]
• 1837 – in aid of.^[8]
• 1940 – foreign aid.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To help or assist.

Noun

1. Help or assistance.
2. Money, food or other help given to a country or people in need.
3. A person or thing that helps: a hearing aid.
4. (history) A payment by a vassal to his feudal lord.

Word family

• aider
• aidful
• aidless
• aid-de-camp
• aidman
• band-aid
• grant-in-aid
• Medicaid

Related words

• aide-de-camp
• aide
• adjutant
• adjuvant
• coadjutor

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)