Harbinger

[Dr. Goodword]

• harbinger •

Pronunciation: hahr-bin-jêr • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: A messenger or other indication of something to come.

Notes: No, harbingers don't harbinge, though Walt Whitman used this word in a sense precisely corresponding to today's meaning in one of his poems. Up until the 17th century, for reasons you will find in today's Word History, harbinge meant "to lodge". Today harbingers harbinger.

In Play: I saw the first robin couple hopping around in my back yard today, as though dancing to the music of spring. The robin is the traditional harbinger of spring in North America, but other kinds of harbingers abound: "I'm afraid that the new president is a harbinger of layoffs, judging from his history at other companies." Harbingers need not be human or animal, however: "Well, Gracie, I think that the flowers George sent you are harbingers of romance."

Word History: Fasten your seat belts: the history of this word is a doozy. In the 15th century, a harbinger (or herbengar then) was someone sent ahead to arrange lodgings. This word was an alternate of herberger "innkeeper, provider of lodgings", borrowed from Old French herbergeor, a noun from herberge "lodgings" (Modern French auberge "inn"). Now, before you shake your head and say, "Of course, another one from French," guess where the French got this word? The French borrowed it from one of English's Germanic ancestors, heriberga "lodgings", made up of heri "army" (Old English here) + berga "shelter", the same word that also went on to become harbor. If berga reminds you of German Berg "mountain" (as in the ice mountains known as icebergs), it should. The meaning of this word expanded from "hill" to "fortress", while the verb from it, bergan, meant "to protect, rescue". Berga "shelter" came from this verb. (Today we thank Kathleen McCune of Norway, whose emails are always harbingers of excellent Good Words like today's.)

[Slava]

I take it eggplant doesn't enter the equation here?

[LukeJavan8]

I have robins at my heated birdbath all winter
for many years now.

[Philip Hudson]

Slava: I don't get the joke in, "I take it eggplant doesn't enter the equation here?" Eggplants aren't harbingers of anything to me unless they are sliced and fried in a cornmeal batter. Then they are harbingers of good eatin'.

Luke: You know that having a heated birdbath totally upsets the balance of nature. You should be more careful.

[Slava]

Philip, the root (Modern French auberge "inn"), has nothing in common with eggplant, also called an aubergine.

[Philip Hudson]

Slava: Thanks for the elucidation. I know little French. I do know a lot of British English. I gather than aubergine is British English for eggplant. As one wag said, "America and England are separated by a common language." Zucchini in the USA is courgette in England. Just plain cake is called gâteau in England. In England cookies are called biscuits. It goes on and on. A popular little novel written during WW II, “Now That April’s There”, has a glossary of British words for American readers. With a complete glossary of such words, there would still be no accounting of differences in pronunciation. As an American Anglophile I love it.

[call_copse]

Re:cake vs gâteaux distinction in Brit English
In general cakes are more cake than icing, and the cake itself is really the focus (the icing is more like a condiment). Plus, they're usually made in just two layers.

Gâteaux by comparison can have several of layers, one or more of which are made up of a mousse, ganache or fruit filling, supported by a thin sheets of sponge cake. Thus for a gâteau, to generalise here, cake is not the centerpiece, it's more of a structural element.

Cake would be taken at tea time perhaps, or after a light lunch. A gâteaux is more of a proper dessert.

Discussion of food is a harbinger of a comment from me.