English
ready
Ready comes from Middle English redy, an alteration of earlier ired ‘ready, prepared’, from Old English ġerǣde ‘prepared, ready’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *raidaz ‘ready’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂reh₁dʰ-reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*raidaz‘ready’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*garaidijazreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150ġerǣde‘prepared, prompt, ready’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ired‘ready, prepared’
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500redy
- Englishearliest quotation 1565ready
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂reh₁dʰ-reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*raidaz‘ready’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*garaidijazreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150ġerǣde‘prepared, prompt, ready’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ired‘ready, prepared’
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500redy
- Englishearliest quotation 1565ready
Earliest quotation: 1565, Theodore Beza, The 7 poynt: “First their must be a clericall tonſure whereas they…”
Formed from -y
The story
From Middle English redy, redi, rædiȝ, iredi, ȝerǣdi, alteration ( + -y) of earlier irēd, irede, ȝerād (‘ready, prepared’), from Old English rǣde, ġerǣde (also ġerȳde) ("prepared, prompt, ready, ready for riding (horse), mounted (on a horse), skilled, simple, easy"), from Proto-Germanic *garaidijaz, *raidijaz, from base *raidaz (‘ready’), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂reh₁dʰ-, *h₂reh₁- (‘to count, put in order, arrange, make comfortable’) and also probably conflated with Proto-Indo-European *reydʰ- (‘to ride’) in the sense of "set to ride, able or fit to go, ready".
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- ‘to fit, to fix, to put together, to slot’
order, art, rate, article, army, artist, reason, arm, ordinary, ratio, alarm, harmony, armor, coordination, coordinate, arthritis, articulate, anarchy, subordinate, ordination, arithmetic, harmonic, ornament, artisan, aristocratic, ornate, inertia, harmonious, articulation, inert, armament, ordinate, ordinator, adorn, harmonize, ordinal, rta, artifice, armadillo, archon, 80 more
Today it means
adj Prepared for immediate action or use.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂reh₁dʰ- / ready