Why “foresignification” is a great word
An inherent quality of a sign, object, or event that serves as an advance token of something yet to come. Formed within English by derivation from the prefix fore- (meaning 'before' or 'in advance') and the noun signification (from Latin significātiō, 'meaning, indication'), it was first attested in 1592. Unlike "prediction," which is a declarative statement about the future, or "symbolism," a broad practice of representation, foresignification is the silent, embedded portent of the sign itself. It is the chill shadow that falls before the eclipse, the crack in the teacup that widens toward a break, the scent of ozone before a lightning strike—the quiet, insistent grammar of the world, already speaking in the tense of what has not yet happened.