tide

Pronunciation

• IPA: /taɪd/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English tide, inherited from Old English tīd (“point or portion of time, due time, season, hour”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *tīdiz, a division of time,^[3][2][4] source also of Old Saxon tīd, Dutch tijd and German Zeit (“time”),^[3][2] according to Watkins from Proto-Indo-European *di-ti-, division of time,^[3] from *dā-, to divide, which also gives Greek daíesthai, to divide.^[2][5] It is related to time.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A portion or space of time, a season: before 700 in the OED, about 725 in Beowulf in Barnhart.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

In Old English a tide was a time, period or season, a sense surviving in Eastertide and Shrovetide,^[8][4] and a canonical hour or its service.^[7] In time and tide (early 13th century) the two words are synonyms.^[3][8] The sea sense came later, probably through the idea of a fixed time, specifically the time of high water:^[3] the time of the tide is from about 1300, and the rise and fall of the sea from the mid-14th century,^[3] either a native development or from Middle Low German getide.^[3] Figurative use is by the late 14th century.^[3] The verb, to flow like the tide, is from 1593,^[2][7] to drift with the tide from 1627,^[7] and to tide over, to carry through a difficulty, from 1626.^[7] The older verb, Old English tīdan, to happen, gave betide and tidings.^[3][7] Tidy is also from tide.^[8][3]

Timeline

• before 700 – a season.^[7]
• early 13th century – time and tide.^[3]
• c. 1300 – the time of the tide.^[3]
• mid-14th century – the rise and fall of the sea.^[3]
• 1593 – to flow like a tide (verb).^[2]
• 1626 – to tide over.^[7]
• 1807 – tidal.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The regular rise and fall of the surface of the sea, caused by the pull of the moon and sun.
2. The current or flow of water resulting from this.
3. A widespread trend or movement: the tide of public opinion.
4. (archaic) A time or season, now usually in compounds such as Christmastide.
5. (archaic) A favourable occasion.

Verb

1. To rise and fall like the tide.
2. To drift with the tide.
3. (tide over) To help through a difficult period.

Word family

• tideless
• tideful
• tidelessness
• tidelike
• Allhallowtide
• nighttide
• noontide
• riptide

Related words

• time
• tidy
• tidings
• betide
• eventide
• tidal

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press