Why verb a noun when a perfectly serviceable verb 'to befriend' is already a part of the language?

Well, the noun friend was verb early in the 15th century. If one looks at the citations for befriend, one discovers it was first used more than one hundred years later. (All citations from the OED online.) This is so funny. Almost as funny as folks who get all wiggy about using till instead of until. The former also is older than the latter.

Ceci n'est pas un seing.