rid English · revision 4821

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1200|origins=non ryðja}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /rɪd/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|ridden]], ruden, rudden,^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) probably [[bor|non|ryðja|t=to clear (land) of obstructions]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) or from an Old English *ryddan.^(Etymonline) Both go back to [[gem-pro|*reudijaną]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[ine-pro|*reudh-|t=to clear land]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) Old Frisian rothia, Old High German riuten and German roden are related,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) as is the northern place-name element -royd “clearing”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To clear a way or space, especially to clear land of trees and undergrowth: about 1200 in the OED and Etymonline;^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) to set free, rescue, before 1225.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From clearing land the sense widened to clearing away rubbish (about 1400),^(OED 1989)^(NODE 1998) and then to freeing a person or place of something unwanted (1569 in the OED, by the 16th century in Etymonline).^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) ''Rid of'', freed from something troublesome, is from before 1400 in Barnhart and the mid-15th century in Etymonline,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) while ''get rid of'' dates from the 1660s.^(Etymonline) In northern English, Scots and American dialect its senses merged with those of [[redd]], to tidy.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) The noun ''riddance'' is from 1535, in the Coverdale Bible,^(Barnhart 1988) and ''good riddance'' is from 1782, after Shakespeare's ''gentle riddance'' (1596).^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1200 – to clear land.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+ * a. 1225 – to set free, rescue.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1535 – ''riddance''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1569 – to free someone or something of a thing.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1660s – ''get rid of''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1782 – ''good riddance''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To make a person or place free of something unwanted: ''rid the house of mice''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''be rid of'', ''get rid of'': to be or become free of something unwanted; to [[throw]] away or get someone to leave.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ridder]]

+ * [[riddance]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[redd]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}