"Gift"

[Hawkmoon]

When did "gift" become a verb?

I just read a post on another forum in which someone wrote that he had "gifted" a handgun to his brother-in-law. It jumped out of the screen at me. I see it more and more these days, but it's not correct according to the (American) English I grew up with. "Gift" is a noun, and "gifted" is an adjective meaning "talented." The correct verb was "give."

What happened?

[charby]

Nothing new

They appear at banquets, and Richard takes pleasure in gifting them with luminous silks and rare Eastern jewels. (1931, The Crusades by Harold Lamb, via COHA)

[BlueStarLizzard]

Yeah, it's not new. In fact, I would say it's a more antiquated usage. It just may be coming back a little.

[Perd Hapley]

Yeah, it's not new. In fact, I would say it's a more antiquated usage. It just may be coming back a little.

True.

[lupinus]

Yeah, it's not new. In fact, I would say it's a more antiquated usage. It just may be coming back a little.

This

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[K Frame]

"When did "gift" become a verb?"

Pretty recently, actually...

Sometime in the early to mid 1500s, it looks like.

[MechAg94]

"When did "gift" become a verb?"

Pretty recently, actually...

Sometime in the early to mid 1500s, it looks like.

So you are confirming that it is NOT modern English usage!!!  So There!  


 

[K Frame]

It has always been both a verb AND a noun. It's not a recent thing, it's just a thing a couple of you have apparently never heard before.

I can help you with your etymology.

I can't help you with your linguistic ignorance.