Etymologically
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provide

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /prəˈvaɪd/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English providen, borrowed from Latin prōvidēre (“to look ahead, prepare, supply”),[2][3][4] from prō- (“forward, ahead”) and vidēre (“to see”),[2][5][6] from Proto-Indo-European *weid- (“to see”).[2][7] It is a doublet of purvey, from the same Latin verb through Old French porveoir.[3][2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To exercise foresight, make provision for the future: about 1407,[8] or about 1408, in Lydgate's Reson and Sensuallyte.[3] The sense “to foresee” is from 1423 and is now obsolete.[8][5]

Semantic evolution

“To lay down as a condition, stipulate” is from 1423,[8][9] and “to prepare, arrange beforehand” from about 1420.[8] The common modern meaning “to supply, furnish” is from 1447,[8] and “to supply means of support”, as in provide for a family, developed from the sense of making provision.[10][8] In church law, to appoint a priest to a vacant benefice is from 1388.[8] Etymonline notes that purvey was the earlier word in the same sense.[2]

Timeline

  • 1388 – to appoint to a benefice.[8]
  • c. 1407 – to make provision.[8]
  • 1423 – to foresee; to stipulate.[8]
  • 1447 – to supply, furnish.[8]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To supply; to furnish; to make available.
  2. To set down as a condition; to stipulate.
  3. To take measures in preparation: provide against loss.
  4. To supply means of support: provide for a family.

Word family

  • providable
  • preprovide
  • nonprovided
  • unprovided
  • provider
  • provision
  • provident
  • providence
  • purvey
  • prudent
  • vision
  • improvise

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin