Middle English Dictionary Entry

prē̆sent(e n.(2)
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Entry Info

Forms prē̆sent(e n.(2) Also presant, presaunt(e, presand(e, presaund, presont, presond, presound; pl. presentes, presendes, presandes, etc. & presens, presenz, presentz, presauns.
Etymology OF present, pl. presenz, presens & ML prēsentia.

Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)

1.
(a) That which is offered or presented as a gift, a present; -- also coll.; also, a bribe; (b) a proposal, an offer; maken ~ of, to propose (sth.); (c) a spiritual offering; don (maken) ~, to offer a spiritual gift; (d) ben in ~, to be as a present, be a gift; bringen in (to) ~, bring (sth.) as a present; haven to ~, have (sth.) as a present; maken (don) ~, give a gift; maken ~ of, make a present of (sb. or sth.); taken in ~, give (sth.) as a present; yeven to ~, give (sth.) as a gift; senden to ~, send (sth.) as a gift; (e) ~ bred, ?bread which is owed to the lord of the manor as a gift on specific occasions; ~ silver, ?a commuted rent paid to the lord in place of an obligatory present in kind.
Show 51 Quotations

Supplemental Materials (draft)

  • a1275 Wolle ye i-heren (Trin-C B.14.39)40/43 : Þe kinges weren of fer icomen þet seli child for-to sechen, a present ho heden vnder-nomen--wel was hem þat ho it geten; þer comet an angele .. & waket hem.
    • Note: This quot. may be taken several ways. If 'vnder-nomen' is taken to mean 'undertook' (a task), then 'present' presumably bears the otherwise unattested sense of 'the act of giving a present' [OD 2.(b) 'the act or fact of presenting or giving, presentation']. This seems to have been Greg's original interpretation in Modern Language Review 8, p. 65. But if 'a present' simply means 'a gift' and refers to the gifts brought by the Magi, then 'vnder-nomen' may bear a sense closer to that of nimen v. sense 2a.(a) ('to take somewhere'); and if 'present' again simply means 'a gift,' but refers to the angelic visitation described in the next line, then the line simply means, 'a present they had received -- well it was for them that they received it -- [viz.:] there came an angel ... and woke them." This seems the likeliest reading, and probably that preferred by Carleton Brown, to judge by his glossary. It has the advantage of requiring no changes to either the present(e n. entry or the under-nimen v. entry.

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