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Origin and history of betide

betide(v.)

late 12c., bitiden, "to happen, come to pass," from be- + tiden "to happen" (see tide (n.) in its original sense). The transitive sense of "happen to (someone)" is from early 13c.

It survives, if at all, in the expression woe betide! (late 14c.). Middle English also had itide "happen, come to pass," from Old English getidan; the phrase itide what bitide (c. 1300) was "come what may."

also from late 12c.

Entries linking to betide

tide(n.)

Middle English tide "time, season; recurring interval, space of time," especially as regards a particular purpose or natural process, from Old English tīd "point or portion of time, due time, period, season; feast-day, canonical hour," from Proto-Germanic *tīdi- "division of time" (source also of Old Saxon tid, Dutch tijd, Old High German zit, German Zeit "time"), according to Watkins from PIE *di-ti- "division, division of time," suffixed form of root *da- "to divide."

The "time" senses in English mostly are archaic. Compare tidings, betide, tidy (adj.), also Middle English anytide "any time," tideful "seasonable, opportune, timely, fitting" (c. 1300). Old English uhtan-tid was early morning, the period before dawn (with uhte "daybreak"); tide-song was the divine service peculiar to a canonical hour.

In the alliterative pairing of time and tide (early 13c.) the words are synonyms, originally indicating "on all occasions" or "as warranted." Nares writes that the Puritans preferred -tide in festival names to -mas.

The main modern meanings "time of the tide" (c. 1300), "rise and fall of the sea, flow of the tidal current" (mid-14c.) probably are via the notion of "fixed time" (compare Old English morgentid "dawn," Middle English dai-tide "daytime"), specifically "time of high water." This is either a native evolution or from Middle Low German getide (compare Middle Dutch tijd, Dutch tij, German Gezeiten "flood tide, tide of the sea"). Figurative use by late 14c.

Old English seems to have had no specific word for this, using flod and ebba to refer to the rise and fall. Old English heahtid "high tide" meant "festival, high day."

Tide-mark "limit of the ebb or flow of a tide" is by 1753; tide-pool, left by regress of the sea, is by 1849. Tide-table, showing the times of the daily tides, is by 1590s.

misbetide(v.)

"have bad fortune, experience defeat," c. 1400, from mis- (1) + betide. Now obsolete. The word, not the thing.

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Trends of betide

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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pass

late 13c., passen (transitive), "to go by (something)," also "to cross over," from Old French passer "to pass" (11c.), from Vulgar Latin *passare "to step, walk, pass" (source also of Spanish pasar, Italian passare), from Latin passus "step, pace" (from PIE root *pete- "to spread

hap

c. 1200, "chance, a person's luck, fortune, fate;" also "unforeseen occurrence," from Old Norse happ "chance, good luck," from Proto-Germanic *hap- (source of Old English gehæp "convenient, fit"), from PIE *kob- "to suit, fit, succeed" (source also of Sanskrit kob "good omen; con

occur

1520s, "meet, meet in argument," from French occurrer "happen unexpectedly" or directly from Latin occurrere "run to meet, run against, befall, present itself," from ob "against, toward" (see ob-) + currere "to run" (from PIE root *kers- "to run"). Sense development is from "meet

happen

late 14c., happenen, "to come to pass, occur, come about, be the case," literally "occur by hap, have the (good or bad) fortune (to do, be, etc.);" extension (with verb-formative -n) of the more common hap (v.). Old English used gelimpan, gesceon, and Middle English also had befa

identity

c. 1600, "sameness, oneness, state of being the same," from French identité (14c.), from Medieval Latin identitatem (nominative identitas) "sameness," ultimately from Latin idem (neuter) "the same" (see idem). [For discussion of Latin formation, see entry in OED.] Earlier form of

irony

"figure of speech in which the intended meaning is the opposite of the literal meaning" (usually covert sarcasm under a serious or friendly pretense), c. 1500, from Latin ironia, from Greek eironeia "dissimulation, assumed ignorance," from eiron "dissembler," perhaps related to e

envy

late 13c., from Old French envie "envy, jealousy, rivalry" (10c.), from Latin invidia "envy, jealousy" (source also of Spanish envidia, Portuguese inveja), from invidus "envious, having hatred or ill-will," from invidere "to envy, hate," earlier "look at (with malice), cast an ev

represent

late 14c., representen, "show, display, express; bring to mind by description," also "to symbolize, serve as a sign or symbol of (something else, something abstract); serve as the type or embodiment of;" also be a representative of" (the authority of another). This is from Old Fr

sufficient

"adequate for a purpose, enough," early 14c., from Old French soficient "satisfactory," or directly from Latin sufficientem (nominative sufficiens) "adequate," present participle of sufficere "to supply as a substitute," from sub "up to" (see sub-) + combining form of facere "to

ghetto

1610s, "part of a city in which Jews are compelled to live," especially in Italy, from Italian ghetto "part of a city to which Jews are restricted," of unknown origin. The various theories trace it to: Yiddish get "deed of separation;" a special use of Venetian getto "foundry" (t

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