forerunner

Etymology

It is formed from English fore- + runner,^[2][3] in Middle English forrenner and forerenner,^[4][3] probably as a literal rendering of Latin praecursor.^[2][4][5] Barnhart analyses it as forærnen (“to run ahead, anticipate”) and the suffix -er, and the OED as forerun and the same suffix.^[6][7] Old English had foreboda (“herald”) and forerynel (“forerunner”), the latter also rendering the Latin noun,^[2][8] and the OED files Old English glosses under this headword.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who goes ahead and prepares the way, said of John the Baptist as the forerunner of Christ: before 1325, in the Cursor Mundi, in the spelling foriner.^[6][2][5] Etymonline dates the word to about 1300, Dictionary.com to 1250–1300 and Merriam-Webster Unabridged to the 13th century.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word began with a person sent ahead, and spread to anything that comes before something else.^[7] The OED has it of things from 1579, in E. K.'s glossary to Spenser's Shepheardes Calender, and of a sign or prognostic from 1589, in Greene's Menaphon.^[7] The sense "predecessor, ancestor" appears before 1616, in Shakespeare's King John.^[7] The plural could mean the advance guard of an army, a use the Shorter Oxford dates from the mid 16th century.^[9][7] Johnson (1755) still defined it first as a harbinger, a messenger sent ahead to announce those who follow, and quoted The Merchant of Venice.^[10] Sailors used it from 1694 for a rope fastened to a harpoon, and since 1805 for one on the foremast.^[7] The skiing sense of 1949 translates German Vorläufer.^[7]

Timeline

• before 1325 – one who goes ahead to prepare the way.^[6] Etymonline dates it to about 1300.^[2]
• 1579 – applied to things.^[7]
• 1589 – a sign or prognostic of something to come.^[7]
• before 1616 – a predecessor or ancestor.^[7]
• 1694 – a rope fastened to a harpoon.^[7]
• 1949 – a skier who runs a course ahead of a race.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person or thing that comes before and announces or prepares for another; a harbinger: Those mild February days were the forerunners of an early spring.^[11][4][9]
2. A warning sign or symptom: A sore throat is often the forerunner of a cold.^[11][12][4]
3. A predecessor or ancestor: The telegraph was a forerunner of the telephone.^[11][12][7]
4. A skier who runs the course before a race begins.^[11][12][7]

Related words

• precursor
• forerun
• runner

Usage notes

Among the near-synonyms precursor, harbinger and herald, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate says that forerunner applies to anything that serves as a sign or presage.^[12]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
6. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
9. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster