bride [OE] In Old English bride was bryd. The bridegroom [OE] had nothing to do with the word groom. The original form was brydguma, from guma ‘man’. This second part was always a slightly poetic word, and by the end of the Middle Ages people would not have recognized it. So they substituted a word they did know. The origin of bridal shows that people have always partied at weddings. The word comes from Old English brydealu ‘wedding feast’, from bryd ‘bride’ and ealu ‘ale-drinking’.