The word 'tidings' descends from Old English 'tīdung' (an event, a piece of news), the verbal noun of 'tīdan' (to happen, to befall, to come to pass), derived from 'tīd' (time, period, season, hour). The PIE root is *deh₂- (to divide), reflecting the ancient conception of time as divided into portions or seasons. Tidings are, at their etymological core, 'things that have happened in time' — occurrences, events brought as news.
The word is exclusively Germanic, with cognates in every branch of the family. Old Norse 'tíðindi' (events, news) was used throughout the saga literature. Danish 'tidende' and Norwegian 'tidende' retain the same meaning. German 'Zeitung' (newspaper) is a direct cognate — from Old High German
The connection between time and news is intuitive: news is what has happened recently — what time has brought forth. The Old English verb 'tīdan' (to happen) makes the link explicit: things 'tide' — they happen in time, they occur as time passes. The related verb 'betide' survives in the phrase 'woe betide' (let woe happen to — an imprecation) and 'come what may' has 'whatever betides' as its older equivalent.
The word 'tidings' is now largely archaic or literary in everyday English, replaced by 'news' (from the plural of 'new' — new things, novelties). Its survival owes much to the King James Bible (1611) and to Christmas tradition. The angels' announcement to the shepherds in Luke 2:10 — 'Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy' — fixed 'glad tidings' and 'good tidings' in English-speaking Christian culture. The Christmas carol 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' includes
The related word 'tide' underwent its own semantic specialization. Old English 'tīd' meant 'time' or 'season' in general — 'Yuletide' (Christmas time), 'eventide' (evening time), 'noontide' (noon time). The modern meaning of 'tide' as the rise and fall of the sea developed because tides are governed by time — they arrive and depart at regular temporal intervals. The old 'time' sense survives
The adjective 'tidy' is also related: Old English 'tīdig' meant 'timely' or 'seasonable' — happening at the right time. From 'timely' it shifted to 'in good order' (things done at the right time are orderly) and then to 'neat and organized.' The semantic chain time → timely → orderly → neat is complete by the eighteenth century.
The plural form 'tidings' (rather than the singular 'tiding') became standard because news typically consisted of multiple items — a report of several events. This plural-only tendency mirrors 'news' itself (always plural in form, though treated as singular in modern grammar).