"good riddance"
First Recorded: 1606
Active Timeline Epoch: 1600s (Early Modern English)
1500 (Tudor)
1600 (Jacobean / Shakespeare)
1700 (Restoration)
1800 (Victorian)
1900 (Modern)
2020 (Digital)
Etymological Derivation & Node Tree
Middle English Roots → Present Metaphor
Corpus Frequency Trend
Occurrences per Million Words (1600s–2000s)
Troilus and Cressida (1606)
William Shakespeare
"A good riddance."
— Ajax referring to Patroclus (Act II, Scene 1)
Etymological Root: Middle English ryddynge (physical clearing or deliverance from debt/land obstruction).
Semantic Drift Vector Analysis
Traces the linguistic trajectory from literal physical clearing to emotional relief upon departure.
Linguistic Process:
Metaphorization & Bleaching