Other forms: forerunners
A forerunner is somebody or something that came before and prepared the way. A forerunner of the modern computer, forerunners of the movement, seen as a forerunner.
It claims a line of descent rather than mere earliness, which is what makes it a stronger word than predecessor. The Latin equivalent is precursor, and the two are used interchangeably.
1nounforerunnerSomebody or something that came before and prepared the way.
“The early steam carriages were forerunners of the modern motor car.”
forerunner is a predecessor.
Fore plus runner, a translation of Latin praecursor.
Latin
praecursor — one who runs before, a forerunner
Middle English
forrenner
English, today
forerunner
From Middle English forrenner, foreriner. Latin praecursor (“one who runs before, a forerunner”). Equivalent to fore- + runner and/or forerun + -er.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA