https://www.proz.com/kudoz/english/finance-general/746623-bell-weather.html

bell weather

English translation: leading

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:bell weather, or rather: bellwether
Selected answer:leading
Entered by: Laura Vinti

13:41 Jun 24, 2004
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Bus/Financial - Finance (general)
English term or phrase: bell weather
Graphs and real time prices for ***bell weather*** market instruments
Laura Vinti
United States
Local time: 04:09
Bell wether
Explanation:
I'm as sure as I can be that this is a Typo; the "bell-wether" is the sheep which wears a bell, and leads the flock. As you know, sheep tend to follow their leader, and this is evidently an expression describing a market-leading instrument.
Selected response from:

David Moore (X)
Local time: 09:09
Grading comment
Thanks a lot to everyone!
Apart from the spelling in the original document, which I supposed was wrong, it was the meaning of the expression that escaped me.
Again, thanks a lot!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
5 +4Bell wether
David Moore (X)
5 +3indicateur
Michel A.
4 +1bellwether
Peter Linton (X)
4early indicators
NGK


  

Answers


7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +4
Bell wether


Explanation:
I'm as sure as I can be that this is a Typo; the "bell-wether" is the sheep which wears a bell, and leads the flock. As you know, sheep tend to follow their leader, and this is evidently an expression describing a market-leading instrument.

David Moore (X)
Local time: 09:09
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 24
Grading comment
Thanks a lot to everyone!
Apart from the spelling in the original document, which I supposed was wrong, it was the meaning of the expression that escaped me.
Again, thanks a lot!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  RHELLER: but I believe it is one word
40 mins
  -> Yes, it's one of those words which has evolved; I should really have used a hyphen....that's how I first knew it, anyway. And the disappearing hyphen is in fact quite recent.

agree  DGK T-I: two words (often with a hyphen) or all one word ~ eg:(for meaning) www.globusz.com/ebooks/MeredithPoems1/00000036.htm http://jimmy.qmuc.ac.uk/usr/mgillh/modules/hfim/WT/LECNOTES....
2 hrs

agree  Craft.Content
8 hrs

agree  Ramesh Madhavan
17 hrs
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7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
bell weather market instruments
early indicators


Explanation:
Instruments that indicate where the market is headed.

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Note added at 9 mins (2004-06-24 13:50:32 GMT)
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And it should read \"bellwether\"

Main Entry: bell·weth·er
Pronunciation: \'bel-\'we-[th]&r, -\"we-
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, leading sheep of a flock, leader, from belle bell + wether; from the practice of belling the leader of a flock
: one that takes the lead or initiative : LEADER; also : an indicator of trends
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=bellwether

NGK
United States
Local time: 03:09
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in GermanGerman

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  David Moore (X): Not this time; it is clearly the leader, rather than an indicator.
2 mins

agree  RHELLER: absolutely!
39 mins
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12 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
bellwether


Explanation:
Are you sure it's "bell weather"? Not 'bellwether', which is a wether (a male sheep or goat) with a bell round its neck that leads the rest of the flock to wherever it is told - a new pasture, or a slaughterhouse, or whatever. Metaphorically, therefore, it means someone who leads the way, quite often in a negative sense. In your context, I think they simply mean a pioneer, leading the way in new technology. But perhaps they can't spell, and don't really understand the term.

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Note added at 13 mins (2004-06-24 13:55:03 GMT)
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Pioneer


    Reference: http://www.bellwether-us.com/
Peter Linton (X)
Local time: 08:09
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  RHELLER: so many good answers today :-)
36 mins
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8 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +3
indicateur


Explanation:
Le coefficient DBRD/PIB permet de comparer les investissements en R-D d'un pays à l'autre. En raison de sa simplicité, bon nombre de pays l'ont adopté, non seulement pour mesurer leur rendement en R-D, mais aussi, implicitement, pour faire état de leur progrès technologiques et de leur compétitivité industrielle.

Because of its simplicity, the GERD/GDP ratio has been adopted widely not just as a measure of R&D performance, but also by implication, as an indicator, a bell-weather, so to speak, of technological advancement and industrial competitiveness.

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Note added at 1 hr 30 mins (2004-06-24 15:12:05 GMT)
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Oops misread the category !! :-)

\'Indicator\', of course.

Michel A.
Local time: 04:09
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Vicky Papaprodromou
3 mins
  -> Merci Vicky

agree  Judith Platter
7 mins
  -> Merci Judith

agree  Tahir
21 mins
  -> Merci Tahir

neutral  RHELLER: French reference is not helpful on Eng-Eng
39 mins
  -> you're absolutely right, I just misread the category - anyway the reference given was in both languages (from a Canadian site) and the answer is 'Indicator' not....'Indicateur'
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