Etymograph

English

harbinger

Harbinger comes from Middle English herberjour ‘a host’, from Old French herbergier ‘to set up camp’, and ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *harjabergu.

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*harjabergu‘shelter, army camp, barracks’reconstructed
  2. Old High Germanc. 750–1050heribergan
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400herbergier‘to set up camp’
  4. Old French, derivedc. 842–1400herbergeor‘host’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500herberjour‘a host’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1606harbinger

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*harjabergu‘shelter, army camp, barracks’reconstructed
  2. Old High Germanc. 750–1050heribergan
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400herbergier‘to set up camp’
  4. Old French, derivedc. 842–1400herbergeor‘host’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500herberjour‘a host’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1606harbinger

Earliest quotation: c. 1606, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Macbeth: “Make all our Trumpets ſpeak, giue thẽ all breath…”

Linked words

through Proto-West Germanic *harjabergu ‘shelter, army camp, barracks’

harbor, 2 more

Today it means

noun A person or thing that foreshadows or foretells the coming of someone or something.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-West Germanic *harjabergu / harbinger

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