prebend

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English prebende,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman prebende and Middle French prebende,^[5][6] and directly borrowed from Medieval Latin praebenda.^[5][6][7] In Anglo-Norman it is recorded from 1305, for the estate that yields a canon's stipend.^[8] The Latin word is the use as a noun of the gerundive of Latin praebeō (“to offer, provide, supply”), literally "things to be supplied":^[5][9][10] most dictionaries take it as the neuter plural,^[5][3][11] but Merriam-Webster Unabridged as the feminine.^[2] It meant an allowance from the state in the 6th century, a daily allowance of food in the 7th and a church living from the 9th.^[5] The verb is a contraction of praehibeō (“to hold forth, provide”),^[5][7][12] from prae- (“before, forth”) and habeō (“to have, hold”),^[5][7][12] from Proto-Indo-European *ghabh- (“to give or receive”).^[7][3] It is a doublet of provender, which comes from the older French form Old French provende.^[7][10][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The estate or land whose income supports a canon of a cathedral or collegiate church: 1422, in the Rolls of Parliament.^[5][6] Etymonline says the early 15th century.^[7] The older word provende had already been used in this sense in Middle English, by Gower for one.^[14][15]

Semantic evolution

English first used the word of the land behind the stipend, and only later, from before 1475, of the share of a cathedral's revenues itself,^[5] which is the core of its definition in modern dictionaries.^[16][2] From 1447 it could also stand for the person holding it, a prebendary, a use the OED finds no parallel for in Latin, French or the other Romance languages.^[5] Johnson (1755) gave this use as his second sense and called it improper,^[17] and Collins now calls it less common.^[16] In modern use the Church of England sense is the office of a prebendary, formerly endowed,^[16] and the Shorter Oxford labels the stipend and the property historical.^[9] A verb, to give a canon a daily allowance, is recorded only in 1868.^[5]

Timeline

• 1422 – the estate or land that provides a canon's stipend.^[5][6]
• 1447 – a prebendary.^[5]
• before 1475 – the share of a cathedral's revenues granted as a stipend.^[5]
• 1868 – verb, to give a daily allowance to a canon.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The stipend that a cathedral or collegiate church gives to a canon or member of its chapter: The prebend barely paid for his books.^[16][2][5]
2. The land, tithe or other source of such a stipend, or the holding of it as a benefice.^[16][2][5]
3. A prebendary.^[16][2][5]
4. (Church of England) The office of a prebendary, formerly with an endowment.^[16]

Word family

• prebendal

Related words

• prebendary
• provender
• provend
• habit

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ 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)
15. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
16. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
17. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.