Post History

How did 'rendre'semantically shift from meaning 'give back' 🡺 to 1. 'make or cause to be' 🡲 then 2. 'represent, depict'?

What semantic notions underlie "**`give back`**" with 

1. 🢂 "**make or cause to be in a certain state**"?

2. 🡪 "**represent, depict**"? 

>### render (v.) [[on Etymonline]](https://www.etymonline.com/word/render?ref=etymonline_crossreference#etymonline_v_10422)
>
>late 14c., _rendren, rendre_, "repeat, say again, recite; translate,"      
from Old French _rendre_ "**`give back` [my emboldening]**, present, yield" (10c.) and Medieval Latin _rendere_,      
from Vulgar Latin _\*rendere_,     
a variant of Latin _reddere_ "give back, return, restore,"     
from _red-_ "back" (see [re-](https://www.etymonline.com/word/re-?ref=etymonline_crossreference "Etymology, meaning and definition of re- "))   
\+ combining form of _dare_ "to give" (from PIE root [\*do-](https://www.etymonline.com/word/*do-?ref=etymonline_crossreference "Etymology, meaning and definition of *do- ") "to give").
>
>The alteration in Vulgar Latin was perhaps simply nasalization or perhaps on analogy of its antonym, _prendre_ "to take" (itself a contraction of _prehendere_). The irregular retention of _\-er_ in a French verb in English is perhaps to avoid confusion with native [rend](https://www.etymonline.com/word/rend?ref=etymonline_crossreference#etymonline_v_10421 "Etymology, meaning and definition of rend ") (v.) or by influence of a Middle English legalese noun _render_ "a payment of rent," which is in part from French noun use of the infinitive.
>
>The sense of "reduce," in reference to fats, "clarify by boiling or steaming" also is from late 14c. The meaning "hand over, yield up, deliver" is recorded from c. 1400; sense of "to return" (thanks, a verdict, etc.) is attested from late 15c., **as is that of "make or cause to be) in a certain state; the meaning "represent, depict" is attested from 1590s**.

>### render [14]    
>Latin _reddere_ meant ‘give back’. It
was a compound verb formed from    
the prefix _re-_‘back’ and _dāre_ ‘give’ (source of English _date, donate_, etc).    
In Vulgar Latin this was changed to
_*rendere_, perhaps under the influence of
_prendere_ ‘take’, which passed into English via
Old French _rendre_.     
_Rent_ ‘payment’ goes back to
the past participle of _*rendere_.

*Word Origins* (2005 2e) by John Ayto, p 420 Right column.