Date: Mon, 4 Aug 1997 10:31:12 +0000

From: "E.W. Gilman" egilman[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]WEBSTER.M-W.COM

Subject: presentism



Well I get back from a couple of weeks off and I find some questions

about this word waiting for me. The 1923 date in C10 is wrong. It

was based on a one-word book title that caught the eye of an editor

of the 1934 edition because the word was not in our dictionaries.

The book was published by the Presentist Society, and hence is

doubtless about the religious belief. Fred Shapiro's 1950 citation

looks to be the earliest for the historical use.



E.W.Gilman