-AID

combining form Also written -aid and without hyphen (People and Society) The second element in names of efforts to raise money for charity. Etymology: Based on Band Aid, the punning name of a rock group formed by Irish rock musician Bob Geldof in 1984 to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia; Band-Aid is also the trade mark of a well-known brand of sticking-plasters. Until Bob Geldof became involved in this area, aid had tended to be associated with economic assistance given by one government to another, often with political conditions attached. History and Usage: The enormous success of Bob Geldof's appeal for Ethiopia, which began with the release of Band Aid's record Do they know it's Christmas? in 1984 and continued with a large-scale rock concert called Live Aid in 1985, laid the foundations for this new combining element in the language. Whereas in the sixties, fund-raising organizations and events had favoured the word fund in their titles, it now became fashionable to use -Aid following the name of your group or activity (School-Aid for schoolchildren's efforts, Fashion-Aid for a charity fashion show, etc.), or after the name of the group being helped (as in Kurd Aid, an unofficial name for a Red Cross concert in aid of Kurdish refugees in May 1991). Sport Aid organizers were yesterday endeavouring to maximize the money raised by Sunday's worldwide Race Against Time in aid of African famine relief. The Times 28 May 1986, p. 2 Inspired by the Live Aid rockathon, Willie Nelson staged Farm Aid I in Champaign to help the needy closer to home. Life Fall 1989, p. 142