Talk:harbinger

Tormod-- Why did you un-wikify the plural? RSvK 06:24, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)
 * Sorry, I didn't think a plural formed just with an "-s" justified its own entry. Tormod 06:26, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)


 * S'okay; I think the idea is to eventually include all forms of all words. This means all inflections, too, in inflected languages, so people can look them up.  Lots of entries, but the important ones will likely get done first.  Cheers, RSvK 06:40, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Should "See Also" be changed to "Synonyms"? --Brain bucket2000 17:49, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)


 * Could be. Feel free.  RSvK 18:37, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)

The audio clip is cut off, I have no idea what to do about this. Astrocom 05:30, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Perhaps also add Dutch "herbergier" (innkeeper). "Innkeeper" is similar to the original English meaning "a person ... to provide lodgings". Also, the words herbergier / harbinger sound similar.

Quotation by Landor.
"I knew by these harbingers who were coming."

Imaginary Conversations and Poems: A Selection. LORD BROOKE AND SIR PHILIP SIDNEY. Walter Savage Landor.

"Brooke. In truth I did; for no otherwise the good household would have it. The birds met me first, affrightened by the tossing up of caps; and by these harbingers I knew who were coming. When my palfrey eyed them askance for their clamorousness, and shrank somewhat back, they quarrelled with him almost before they saluted me, and asked him many pert questions. What a pleasant spot, Sidney, have you chosen here for meditation! A solitude is the audience-chamber of God. Few days in our year are like this; there is a fresh pleasure in every fresh posture of the limbs, in every turn the eye takes."

Wikipedia notes: "The first two volumes of his Imaginary Conversations appeared in 1824[14] with a second edition in 1826; a third volume was added in 1828; and in 1829 the fourth and fifth volumes were published. Not until 1846 was a fresh instalment added, in the second volume of his collected and selected works.[7] Many of the imaginary conversations harshly criticize authoritarian rule and endorse republican principles.[1]"

[14] "Review of Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen by Walter Savage Landor, 2 vols., 1824". The Quarterly Review. 30: 508–519. January 1824.; [7] Swinburne, Algernon Charles (1911). "Landor, Walter Savage". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 161–162.; [1] Murray, Christopher John (2004). Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760-1850, Volume 2. Taylor & Francis. pp. 643–644.

So it seems likely, since this is an imaginary conversation between literary men, it was originally from the third volume, published 1828.

Ngram results
I've removed the "usually in the plural" label: "harbinger" is between 3 and 4x more common than "harbingers" on the recent end of the Google Ngram corpus, and about the same for "the harbinger" vs. "the harbingers". The singular has always been at least ~2x more common, though the plural seems to have been particularly fashionable in the mid-20th c. For comparison, 3-4x is pretty much the exact same as "fox" vs. "foxes". —Al-Muqanna المقنع (talk) 00:47, 1 January 2023 (UTC)