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Origin and history of redd

redd(v.)

also red, c. 1300, redden, "to clear" (a space, etc.), "rid of encumbrance," from Old English hreddan "to save, free from (Satan, guilt, etc.), deliver, recover, rescue," from Proto-Germanic *hradjan (source also of Old Frisian hredda, Dutch redden, Old High German retten).

Sense evolution tended to merge it with unrelated rid. It is also possibly influenced by Old English rædan "to arrange," which is related to Old English geræde, source of ready (adj.). Related: Redding.

A dialect word in Scotland and northern England, where it has had senses of "to fix" (boundaries), "to comb" (out one's hair), "to separate" (combatants), "to settle" (a quarrel). The exception to the limited use is the meaning "to put in order, to make neat or trim" (1718), especially in redd up, which is in general use in England and the U.S. The same phrase, in the same sense, in Pennsylvania Dutch may be from cognate Low German and Dutch redden, obviously connected historically to the English word, "but the origin and relationship of the forms is not clear" [OED].

also from c. 1300

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ready(adj.)

Middle English redi, with adjectival suffix -i (as in busy, crafty, hungry, etc.) + Old English ræde, geræde "prepared, ready, suitably equipped;" of a horse, "ready for riding."

This is reconstructed to be from Proto-Germanic *(ga)raitha- "arranged" (source also of Old Frisian rede "ready," Middle Dutch gereit, Old High German reiti, Middle High German bereite, German bereit, Old Norse greiðr "ready, plain," Gothic garaiþs "ordered, arranged"), which is perhaps from PIE root *reidh- "to ride" (see ride (v.)).

Lengthened in Middle English by change of ending. Sense of "at hand, present, available" is late 12c. Of money, "immediately available," c. 1300, hence slang noun the ready "cash" (1680s). Phrase at the ready "in the position of a soldier's firearm after the command '(make) ready!'" is attested from 1837. As an adverb, c. 1300, "at hand." A ready-reckoner (1757) was a book of tabulated calculations of the sort used in ordinary business and housekeeping.

rid(v.)

c. 1200, ridden, "clear (a space); set free, save," from Old English *ryddan (past participle geryd) or else from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse ryðja (past tense ruddi, past participle ruddr) "to clear (land) of obstructions," from Proto-Germanic *reudijan (source also of Old High German riuten, German reuten "to clear land," Old Frisian rothia "to clear," Old English -royd "clearing," common in northern place names), from PIE root *reudh- "to clear land."

Meaning "be rid of, be freed from" (something troublesome or useless) is from mid-15c. The general sense of "to make (someone or someplace) free (of someone or something else)" emerged by 16c. The senses have merged somewhat with those in Northern English, Scottish, and U.S. dialectal redd (q.v.). To get rid of (something or someone) is from 1660s. Related: Ridden; ridding.

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