Bible Lexicons

Like its verb, the subst. is used of dowry in marriage contracts, but not with the same frequency : cf. e.g. P Tebt II. 351.1 (ii/A.D.) προσφο (ρᾶς) οἰκί (ας) of the gift of a house from a mother to her daughter on the occasion of her marriage, and P Ryl II. 154.10, .20 (A.D. 66); see also Archiv iv. p. 138, and the editors’ introd. to P Ryl II. 155. In the medical P Tebt II. 272.5 (late ii/A.D.) προσφορά has reference to the ";increase"; of bad symptoms, and apparently it is = ";contribution"; in P Oxy X. 1253.9 (iv/A.D.), where it is associated with ἐξαγυρισμός (see also ib. 1322 (A.D.413)) : cf. the similar use of the adj. in P Tebt I. 88.15 (B.C. 1.15–4) ἄλλο πρόσφοριν (";revenue";) μηθὲν ἔχειν.

From a later date, P Oxy XVI. 1898.23 (A.D. 587), comes the receipt for a gift of wheat paid as τὴν ἁγίαν προσφοράν to an hospital. In their note ad l. the editors point out that in Byzantine times προσφορά is = (a) ";a mass or other commemorative office for the dead, and so, eventually, the mass itself,"; and (b) ";a gift made to a church or monastery for this purpose"; : see further the elaborate note ad P Mon I. 8.5.