In order to know the meaning of the term herald, it is interesting to start by discovering its etymological origin. In this case, it must be emphasized that it is a word that derives from French, specifically from “heraut”, which can be translated as “emissary” or even “messenger”.
It must be established that this word was used from the 12th century onwards to refer to war messengers who were sent to give a statement to the rival side, such as, for example, an ultimatum.
A herald, therefore, is a messenger or spokesperson (speaker). In ancient times, heralds were officers who carried orders from monarchs, summoned those summoned by kings or silenced people so that sovereigns could speak in public. Sometimes they also carried out the orders .
Champion, emissary, faraute, representative or messenger are some of the words that can serve as a synonym for herald.
In the Middle Ages , the herald had the function of declaring war , observing combats for the writing of memoirs and announcing retreat, for example. They also traveled to invite squires and knights to participate in various military exercises and games.
The idea of herald can also be used symbolically to refer to someone who anticipates something that will occur or that will happen soon . For example: “He was considered the herald of the revolution for his texts and his militancy,” “The Russian scientist is the herald of a new era of telecommunications,” “This ship was the herald of destruction for the northeast region.”
Many newspapers in various parts of the world carry this name. The Herald of Honduras , to cite one case, was founded in 1979 . Its editorial office is located in Tegucigalpa , the national capital. The oldest is El Heraldo de Colombia , which began publishing in 1933 and is currently among the most read in the country.
There are El Heraldo newspapers that, however, have already ceased to exist. We can mention the cases of El Heraldo de Cuba and El Heraldo de Madrid ( Spain ), among others.
In addition to all these media mentioned, we must not overlook the existence of another very important one: the newspaper El Heraldo de Aragón, which was founded in Zaragoza in 1895 by the journalist and writer Luis Montestruc (1868 - 1897) and that still continues to inform multitudes of people.
It should be noted that it is focused, above all, on news related to the autonomous community of Aragon and that, currently, it is under the direction of Mikel Iturbe Mach. Among its most important milestones in its history are that it managed to maintain its publication during the Spanish Civil War, that in 1995 it began what was its digital edition and that it is part of the Henneo group. This group has other reference publications in the country such as Cinemanía, 20 mins or Lainformacion.com, among others.