Etymologically
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rid

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ridden, ruden, rudden,[2][3] probably borrowed from Old Norse ryðja (“to clear (land) of obstructions”),[2][4][3] or from an Old English *ryddan.[5] Both go back to Proto-Germanic *reudijaną,[5][2] from Proto-Indo-European *reudh- (“to clear land”).[5][2] Old Frisian rothia, Old High German riuten and German roden are related,[2][5] as is the northern place-name element -royd “clearing”.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To clear a way or space, especially to clear land of trees and undergrowth: about 1200 in the OED and Etymonline;[6][5] to set free, rescue, before 1225.[6][5]

Semantic evolution

From clearing land the sense widened to clearing away rubbish (about 1400),[6][7] and then to freeing a person or place of something unwanted (1569 in the OED, by the 16th century in Etymonline).[6][5] Rid of, freed from something troublesome, is from before 1400 in Barnhart and the mid-15th century in Etymonline,[2][5] while get rid of dates from the 1660s.[5] In northern English, Scots and American dialect its senses merged with those of redd, to tidy.[5][6] The noun riddance is from 1535, in the Coverdale Bible,[2] and good riddance is from 1782, after Shakespeare's gentle riddance (1596).[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – to clear land.[6][5]
  • a. 1225 – to set free, rescue.[6]
  • 1535 – riddance.[2]
  • 1569 – to free someone or something of a thing.[6]
  • 1660s – get rid of.[5]
  • 1782 – good riddance.[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To make a person or place free of something unwanted: rid the house of mice.
  2. be rid of, get rid of: to be or become free of something unwanted; to throw away or get someone to leave.

Word family

  • ridder
  • riddance
  • redd

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press