different between betoken vs prophesy

English

Etymology

From Middle English bitoknen, bitacnen, from Old English bet?cnian (“to betoken, signify, designate”). Equivalent to be- +? token. Cognate with Dutch betekenen (“to mean, signify”), German bezeichnen (“to call, designate”), Swedish beteckna (“to represent, designate, indicate”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b??to?.k?n/
• Rhymes: -??k?n

Verb

betoken (third-person singular simple present betokens, present participle betokening, simple past and past participle betokened)

1. (transitive) To signify by some visible object; show by signs or tokens.
   • 1557: Robert Recorde, The whetstone of witte, whiche is the seconde parte of Arithmetike?:?containyng the xtraction of Rootes?:?The Cossike practise, with the rule of Equation?:?and the workes of Surde Nombers.^?, page unknown (Ihon Kyngstone)

     There be other 2 signes in often use of which the first is made thus?+?and betokeneth more?:?the other is thus made?–?and betokeneth lesse.
2. (transitive) To foreshow by present signs; indicate something future by that which is seen or known.
   • 1853: Virgil, Charles Anthon, LL.D. [tr.], Æneïd of Virgil: With English Notes, Critical and Explanatory, a Metrical Clavis: And an Historical, Geographical, and Mythological Index, page 474 (Harper & Brothers, 329 & 331 Pearl Street, Franklin Square, New York)

     “?Ah?!?hospitable land, thou (nevertheless) betokenest war,” i.?e., although hospitable, thou nevertheless betokenest war.?—?Bello.

Synonyms

• (signify): indicate, mark, note
• (foreshow): portend, presage, forebode

Translations

References

• betoken in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

English

Etymology

From Middle English prophecien; partly from prophecie, and partly from Middle French prophecier, prophesier, from prophecie (“prophecy”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p??f?sa?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?p??f?sa?/

Verb

prophesy (third-person singular simple present prophesies, present participle prophesying, simple past and past participle prophesied)

1. To speak or write with divine inspiration; to act as prophet. [from 14th c.]
   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Joel 2:28,^[1]

     And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

   • 1648, Robert Herrick, “Not every day fit for Verse” in Hesperides, London: John Williams & Francis Eglesfield, p. 285,^[2]

     ’Tis not ev’ry day, that I

     Fitted am to prophesie:

     No, but when the Spirit fils

     The fantastick Pannicles:

     Full of fier; then I write

     As the Godhead doth indite.

   • 1958, Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, Oxford: Heinemann, 1996, Part One, Chapter Eleven, p. 70,^[3]

     […] at that very moment a loud and high-pitched voice broke the outer silence of the night. It was Chielo, the priestess of Agbala, prophesying. There was nothing new in that. Once in a while Chielo was possessed by the spirit of her god and she began to prophesy.

2. To predict, to foretell (with or without divine inspiration). [from 14th c.]
   • c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, Act V, Scene 1,^[4]

     Then I perceive that will be verified

     Henry the Fifth did sometime prophesy

     ‘If once he come to be a cardinal,

     He’ll make his cap co-equal with the crown.’

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, 1 Kings 22:8,^[5]

     He doth not prophesy good concerning me.

   • 1848, Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Barton, Chapter 5,^[6]

     People prophesied a long continuance to this already lengthened frost; said the spring would be very late; no spring fashions required; no summer clothing purchased for a short uncertain summer.

   • 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), p. 745:

     ‘It has been prophesied more than once that he will find it.’

3. To foreshow; to herald; to prefigure.
   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act V, Scene 3,^[7]

     Methought thy very gait did prophesy

     A royal nobleness. I must embrace thee.

4. (intransitive, Christianity) To speak out on the Bible as an expression of holy inspiration; to preach. [from 14th c.]
   • 1646, Jeremy Taylor, Of the Liberty of Prophesying, Section 4, in Treatises of 1. The liberty of prophesying, 2. Prayer ex tempore, 3. Episcopacie: together with a sermon, London: R. Royston, 1648, p. 73,^[8]

     […] if we consider that we have no certain wayes of determining places of difficulty and Question, infallibly and certainly […] we shall see a very great necessity in allowing a liberty in Prophesying without prescribing authoritatively to other mens consciences, and becomming Lords and Masters of their Faith.

Related terms

• prophecy
• prophesier
• prophesize (nonstandard)
• prophet
• prophetic
• prophetize

Translations