[Hi and Lois, March 19, 2025. Click for a larger view.]
The punchline: “That’s a robin, not a harbinger.”
I had to look at the Oxford English Dictionary. The word is a borrowing from French. Its etymon: herbergere. The most interesting point about harbinger is the way its meaning has changed. A dagger marks an obsolete meaning:
†One who provides lodging; an entertainer, a host; a harbourer n. common herberger, a common lodging-house keeper. Obsolete.The first OED citation for the word: c. 1175. The first citation for the Hi Flagston meaning: before 1550.
One sent on before to purvey lodgings for an army, a royal train, etc.; a purveyor of lodgings; in plural, an advance company of an army sent to prepare a camping-ground; a pioneer who prepares the way. Historical and archaic. †Knight Harbinger: an officer in the Royal Household (the office was abolished in 1846).
One that goes before and announces the approach of someone; a forerunner. Mostly in transferred and figurative senses, and in literary language.
To my surprise, there is a harbinger of spring, and it doesn’t fly or sing:
A small umbelliferous herb of North America, Erigenia bulbosa, which flowers in March in the Central States. In its tuberous root, twice ternate leaves, and small white flowers, it resembles the Earth-nut of Great Britain.Thanks, dictionary.
Related reading
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comments: 8
When people see a robin pecking the dirt, they say, I saw the first robin of spring. But that only means the ground has thawed. Since people have planted berry-bearing bushes, most robins don't migrate anymore.
Huh — another Hi and Lois problem.
Earth-nuts was another thing I'd never heard of! I assumed that it meant snowdrops which are commonly regarded as harbingers of spring - they are rapidly fading now as March progresses, but they emerge pretty much first of all our spring flowers, along with aconite, and last hardly any time at all, giving way to crocus and daffodil. But no, according to Britannica an earth-nut is a member of the carrot family. I have to admit I wouldn't know what one looks like if I tripped over it!
If it’s any consolation, I’ve heard of neither the earth-nut nor the harbinger of spring. But I can recognize the song of a lone bird who’ visits our backyard regularly: D E F# D. It returned last month. No one from the birding community here has a clue what it might be.
Unrelated: last night we watched Wanted for Murder (dir. Lawrence Huntington, 1946), which has a great scene from the London Underground. (On YouTube.) And this morning my wife noticed an article that mentioned NYC straphangers: https://nypost.com/2025/03/19/us-news/nyc-subway-station-replaces-benches-with-goofy-leaning-bars-and-commuters-are-confused/. (Via Bluesky — we're not New York Post readers.)
Have you tried this to identify the bird?
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/whats-that-bird-song-merlin-bird-id-can-tell-you/
Elaine has tried Merlin and has recorded and played the bird's call for local experts. The best (non-local) guess is that it's a starling imitating something that it's heard.
I learned the word harbinger during the spiritual TV series BattleStar Galactica when a pilot claimed to be able to take them to Earth, but the prophecy was that she was a harbinger of death. (turned out she did both)
It’s wonderful how certain words are always associated with their first appearance in your life. I still associate “apoplexy” with Treasure Island, sixth grade.
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