Raid

The word raid means "a surprise attack by a small armed force."  It originally comes from the Old English word rad meaning "a riding, road."  The American Heritage College Dictionary goes on to describe how raid and road decended from the same Old English word.  The ai in raid is an example of the development of the long a in northern dialects of Old English, while the oa in road is an example of the long a in all other English dialects.  The Old English word rad also held an aggressive tone to mean "the act of riding with a hostile intent."  The current word road does not hold the same tone, except for in the form of the compound inroad, "a riding on or in."  The current definiton of raid comes from Sir Walter Scott who invigorated the Scottish word raid with the meaning "a military expedition on horseback."  

The Americfan Heritage College Dictionary presents two other definitons of the word raid as it relates to the business world, each meaning to take over or decieve another company.  It is interesting to see how the word has been altered to fit into a non-violent community.  

Source:  American Heritage College Dictionary Fourth Edition