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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
"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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Joined: Dec 2000
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
Nice one, Bill. That's such a vague relation, you'd never guess it.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
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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