ENGLISH
REFERENCE

betide

v.
US //bɪˈtaɪd// UK //bɪtˈaɪd// be·tide Archaic Literary
Synonyms
Origin

From Middle English bityden [and other forms]; from bi- (prefix forming verbs, usually with a completive, figurative, or intensive sense) + tyden (“to come about, happen, occur; to befall, become of, happen to (someone); to be the fate of (someone); to await (someone); to fare, get along”); tyden is derived from Old English tīdan (“to befall, betide, happen”), related to tīd (“time; season; hour”) (both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European deh₂- (“to divide, share”) or its extended form deh₂-y-, whence *dh₂ítis (“time”)) + -an (suffix forming the infinitive of most verbs). The English word is analysable as be- + tide (“(obsolete) to happen, occur”).

Idioms1 entry

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