Old English; earliest use found in King Alfred (c848–899), king of the West Saxons and of the Anglo-Saxons. Cognate with Old Frisian rīd, Old Dutch rīth (Middle Dutch rijt, Dutch rijt (with secondary change of the final consonant)), Middle Low German rīde from a derivative (with dental extension) of the same Indo-European base as Sanskrit rī- to flow, Old Church Slavonic rinǫti (used reflexively) to rush, Old Russian rinuti to throw, push (Russian rinut′) and rinutisja to rush (Russian rinut′sja).