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From Nordan Symposia
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[[File:lighterstill.jpg]]
==Origin==
[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English], leading sheep of a flock, leader, from belle bell + wether; from the [[practice]] of belling the [[leader]] of a flock.
We usually think of sheep more as followers than [[leaders]], but in a flock one sheep must lead the way. Long ago, it was common [[practice]] for [[shepherds]] to hang a bell around the neck of one sheep in their flock, thereby designating it the lead sheep. This [[animal]] was called the bellwether, a [[word]] formed by a combination of the Middle English words belle (meaning "bell") and wether (a noun that refers to a [[male]] sheep that has been [[castrate]]d). It [[eventually]] followed that bellwether would come to refer to someone who takes [[initiative]] or who actively establishes a [[trend]] that is taken up by others. This usage first appeared in [[English]] in the 13th century.
==Definition==
*1: one that takes the [[lead]] or [[initiative]] : leader; also : an indicator of [[trends]]
==Description==
In [[politics]], the term is more often applied in the [[passive]] sense to describe a geographic region where political tendencies match in [[microcosm]] those of a wider area, such that the result of an [[election]] in the former region might predict the [[eventual]] result in the latter. In a Westminster-style election, for example, a constituency, the [[control]] of which tends frequently to [[change]], can mirror in its popular vote the result on a national scale.
[[Category: General Reference]]
==Origin==
[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English], leading sheep of a flock, leader, from belle bell + wether; from the [[practice]] of belling the [[leader]] of a flock.
We usually think of sheep more as followers than [[leaders]], but in a flock one sheep must lead the way. Long ago, it was common [[practice]] for [[shepherds]] to hang a bell around the neck of one sheep in their flock, thereby designating it the lead sheep. This [[animal]] was called the bellwether, a [[word]] formed by a combination of the Middle English words belle (meaning "bell") and wether (a noun that refers to a [[male]] sheep that has been [[castrate]]d). It [[eventually]] followed that bellwether would come to refer to someone who takes [[initiative]] or who actively establishes a [[trend]] that is taken up by others. This usage first appeared in [[English]] in the 13th century.
==Definition==
*1: one that takes the [[lead]] or [[initiative]] : leader; also : an indicator of [[trends]]
==Description==
In [[politics]], the term is more often applied in the [[passive]] sense to describe a geographic region where political tendencies match in [[microcosm]] those of a wider area, such that the result of an [[election]] in the former region might predict the [[eventual]] result in the latter. In a Westminster-style election, for example, a constituency, the [[control]] of which tends frequently to [[change]], can mirror in its popular vote the result on a national scale.
[[Category: General Reference]]
