forespeaker

Etymology

From Middle English forspeker, vorspekere, from Old English forespreca (“one who speaks on behalf of another; advocate; defender”), equivalent to forespeak + -er or fore- + speaker.

forespeaker means one who speaks on behalf of another; an advocate. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.

Why “forespeaker” is a great word

FORESPEAKER — [Noun] One who speaks on behalf of another; an advocate or intercessor. From Middle English *forspeker*, from Old English *forespreca* ("one who speaks on behalf of another, advocate, defender"), equivalent to *fore-* ("before, on behalf of") + *speaker*. First attested around 1175. Unlike a "prophet," who claims a divine channel, or a "lawyer," who operates within a formal warrant, the forespeaker is the elemental voice lent in proxy. It is the quiet whisper in a prince's ear, the steady declaration for a prisoner struck dumb, the patient articulation of a child's inarticulate grievance—a human bridge of words, spanning the chasm between power and powerlessness.

noun

One who speaks on behalf of another; an advocate.“When professional lawyers attending the royal courts first become visible to historians in the thirteenth century, it is clear that they were already divided into two groups with distinct functions: the pleaders or 'forespeakers' who spoke for litigants (subject to disavowal) in court; and the attorneys, who acted as ministers or agents with power to bind their clients in the formal process of lit”