rædan

From a merger of two verbs:

• Proto-Germanic *rēdaną (“to counsel; advise”, strong verb), from Proto-Indo-European *rey- (“reason, count”)
• Proto-Germanic *raidijaną (“to arrange; order; make ready”, weak verb).

Cognate with Old Frisian rēda (West Frisian riede), Old Saxon rādan (Low German raden), Old Dutch rādan (Dutch raden), Old High German rātan (German raten), Old Norse ráða (Icelandic ráða, Swedish råda, Danish råde), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌳𐌰𐌽 (garedan), which is akin to Gothic 𐍂𐍉𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (rōdjan, “to talk together”) [1]. The Indo-European root is also the source of Greek αριθμός (arithmós), Old Irish immrádim, Old Church Slavonic радити (raditi), Albanian re (“care, attention”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈræːdɑn/

rǣdan

1. to read

   Ǣr þām þe iċ slāpe, iċ sċeal simle fēawe trametas rǣdan of gōdre bēċ.

   Before I go to sleep, I always have to read a few pages from a good book.

2. to advise
3. to interpret, explain

   swefn rǣdan

   to interpret a dream

Originally class 7 strong. Changed in later Old English to class 1 weak.

• ārǣdan
• berǣdan
• forrǣdan
• ġerǣdan
• misrǣdan
• oferrǣdan

• Middle English: reden
  • Scots: rede
  • English: read, rede