portend

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English portenden,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin portendō (“to foretell, presage; to point out”),^[5][6][7][2] originally "to stretch forward",^[2] formed from por- (“forward”) and tendō (“to stretch”).^[5][6][8][9] The OED takes the prefix as an ablaut variant of the base of pro-,^[5] and Etymonline and Klein agree on the link with that prefix;^[2][4] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster relate it to per (“through”).^[6][7] Weekley calls the verb an archaic form of prōtendō (“to stretch forward”),^[10] and Collins and Dictionary.com also connect the two.^[11][12] The Latin base is from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”).^[2][13][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

To presage as an omen, to foretell by supernatural means: about 1429, in the Mirour of Mans Saluacioune.^[5] Barnhart's first record, probably before 1425, is a translation of Higden's Polychronicon,^[6] which the MED cites with the date probably before 1475 (the text probably before 1425): a blasynge sterre is wonte to portende other a pestilence of provinces other the chaungenge of a realme.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The omen sense is the original one, and in 1585, in Bilson, it weakened to merely indicating something in advance or giving warning of it.^[5] From 1605, in Camden, a person could also portend, forecasting by reading an omen.^[5][7] A further sense, to signify or mean, dates from 1590,^[5][7] and post-classical Latin had already used the verb for "to symbolize";^[5] Collins marks this use obsolete.^[11] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to foretoken; to foreshow as omens", quoting Bacon's A moist and a cool summer portendeth a hard winter.^[15] The noun portent, "ominous sign", and the adjective portentous came in during the 16th century.^[16] The OED and the Shorter Oxford also record a rare verb of this spelling meaning to put forward as an excuse (probably before 1475) and to extend (before 1500, then 1657 to 1803).^[5][8] They take it as apparently from Middle French portendre,^[5][8] though the OED allows that it may instead be a variant of protend, or in the first sense a copying error for pretend;^[5] Etymonline counts the literal "stretch forth" as an occasional 17th- and 18th-century use of Latin's sense.^[2] In poetry from 1887 it could be intransitive, to give portents.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1429 – to presage as an omen, to foretell supernaturally.^[5] Barnhart has it probably before 1425.^[6]
• probably before 1475 – rare, to put forward as authority or excuse.^[5][8]
• before 1500 – to extend in time.^[5]
• 1585 – weakened, to indicate beforehand, to give warning of.^[5]
• 1590 – to signify, to mean.^[5]
• 1605 – to forecast by reading an omen; to predict.^[5]
• 1657 – to stretch forth, to hold out (last recorded 1803).^[5][8]
• 1887 – poetic and intransitive, to give portents.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be a sign or omen of something to come; to foreshadow: A sudden fall in pressure can portend a storm.^[11][7][5]
2. To give warning of; to indicate in advance.^[11][5][8]
3. To predict or forecast, as by interpreting an omen.^[7][5]
4. To signify or mean, a use Collins marks as obsolete.^[7][5][11]
5. (obsolete, 1657–1803) To stretch out or extend.^[5][8]

Related words

• portent
• portentous
• tend
• protend
• pretend
• extend
• distend
• contend
• tent

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
14. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press