An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/bereit

by Friedrich Kluge

bereit, adj., ‘ready, prepared,’ from MidHG. bereit, bereite, OHG. bireiti, ‘ready and willing, obliging; armed, ready’; comp. AS. gerœ̂de, rœ̂de, E. ready; Goth. garaids, ‘appointed,’ does not correspond exactly. The word may belong to the root discussed under reiten (comp. OHG. reita, ‘carriage’), with the orig. sense of ‘to equip with armour’; like fertig, it would thus mean properly ‘ready for a journey’; comp. OIr. ríadaim, ‘I am going on a journey,’ ríad, ‘practicable (of a route), passable.’ On account of the similarity in meaning comp. fertig.