Etymology

foreganger

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Today it means: One who or that which goes before; a forerunner; a harbinger; a predecessor. Full definition →

Middle English forganger ← Old English *foregangere
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited from*foregangere
  2. Middle English · inherited fromforganger
  3. English todayforeganger

From Middle English forganger, forgangere, from Old English *foregangere, from foregangan (“to go before, precede, go in front of, project, excel”), equivalent to fore- + ganger. Cognate with Scots foregangare (“a foregoer”), Dutch voorganger (“a predecessor, progenitor”), German Vorgänger (“a predecessor, precursor”), Swedish föregångare (“a forerunner, precursor, progenitor”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.