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#69918 - 05/14/02 02:23 PM harbinger
wwh Carpal Tunnel Registered: 01/18/01 Posts: 13858	"Harbinger" has been used a dozen times in AWADtalk, so we all know what it means. I should think. But its etymology has not been given, and I find it interesting. When important persons were travelling, they had to have someone go ahead of them to be sure they had a place to stay for the night. That was "herberge". The advance person was a "gar". So his duties as messenger was rather different from the poetic usages. harbinger SYLLABICATION: har·bin·ger PRONUNCIATION: härbn-jr NOUN: One that indicates or foreshadows what is to come; a forerunner. TRANSITIVE VERB: Inflected forms: har·bin·gered, har·bin·ger·ing, har·bin·gers To signal the approach of; presage. ETYMOLOGY: Middle English herbengar, person sent ahead to arrange lodgings, from Old French herbergeor, from herbergier, to provide lodging for, from herberge, lodging, of Germanic origin. See koro- in Appendix I.
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#69919 - 05/15/02 04:07 AM Re: harbinger
belligerentyouth old hand Registered: 12/20/00 Posts: 1055 Loc: Berlin	Nice one, Bill. That's such a vague relation, you'd never guess it.
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#69920 - 05/17/02 10:30 PM Re: harbinger
Bingley Carpal Tunnel Registered: 04/09/00 Posts: 3065 Loc: Jakarta	Try looking atit from the point of view of the innkeeper. The arrival of a harbinger meant somebody important was on the way. Bingley _________________________ Bingley
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