'Provide' meant 'to see ahead' — supplying arose from foreseeing a need and preparing for it.
To make available for use; to supply or furnish; to take precautionary measures in advance.
From Latin 'providere' (to foresee, look ahead, take precautions, supply), a compound of 'pro-' (forward, ahead, on behalf of) and 'videre' (to see). The PIE root is *weyd- (to see, know), one of the most semantically productive roots in Indo-European, yielding 'vision,' 'video,' 'evidence,' 'wise,' 'wisdom,' 'wit,' 'idea' (via Greek), 'history' (via Greek 'histor,' one who knows), and Sanskrit 'veda' (knowledge). The semantic development from 'to see ahead' to 'to supply' is elegant: foreseeing a need
Words closest in meaning, ranked by similarity