Bride comes from the Old English word bryd, while at the same time the word guma simply meant “a young man.”
The two together, brydguma, referred to a suitor looking for a wife.
This compound changed in the sixteenth century when groom evolved within folk language to take over from guma as a description of a young man, boy, or lad who was commonly hired to work the stables and groom horses among other chores but who was still seeking a wife.
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