eventide

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English eventide,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English ǣfentīd,^[2][3][5][6] a compound of ǣfen (“evening”) and tīd (“time”).^[2][3][7][8] The OED compares formations of the same kind in Dutch avondtijd (1558), Middle Low German āventtīt, Old High German ābandzīt and German Abendzeit.^[9] The second element goes back to Proto-Germanic *tīdi- (“division of time”),^[10] which the American Heritage Dictionary refers to the root Proto-Indo-European *dā-.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The time of evening: in the Old English poem The Dream of the Rood.^[9] The Old English Chronicle uses the word in its entry for 979, on the killing of King Edward.^[8] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the word to before the 12th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The second element is tide in its old meaning, "time", so that the compound simply means evening.^[10][2] A figurative sense, the latter part of something, especially of a person's life, is recorded from about 1225 in the Ancrene Riwle.^[9] Chaucer used the word twice, of the evening of the day.^[11] Johnson (1755) quoted it from Spenser's Faerie Queene and Genesis 24:63, "Isaac went out to meditate at the eventide".^[12] In later use it occurs mostly in the phrase at eventide,^[9] and it is now archaic except in eventide home, a home for old people, first one kept by the Salvation Army.^[5]

Timeline

• Old English – the time of evening.^[9][8]
• c. 1225 – figurative, the latter part of something, especially of life.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic) The time of evening; evening: The bells rang out at eventide.^[2][3][5]
2. The latter part of something, especially of a person's life.^[9]
3. eventide home: a residence for old people.^[5]

Related words

• even
• eve
• evening
• tide

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
9. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.