"Harold" angels (Was: Winter Solstsice)

[Carol]

CJ/Lee wrote:
> I was never sure what a "harold" was, or the precise means by which
one went about "harking" them, but I knew it was something you were
supposed to do whenever angels sang. It wasn't until I was much older
that I realized there was no comma in the sentence.
> 
> CJ
>
Carol responds:
Not Harold, which is a name, but "herald," as in a bringer of news or
ambassador. And "hark," of course, means "listen," so "Hark! The
herald angels sing" means, essentially, "Listen to the messenger
angels singing." Think of a medieval herald in livery delivering
messages between two armies. (It was a crime to kill a herald.)
Richard III founded the College of Arms or Herald's College in 1484
for the regulation of heraldry and granting of coats of arms (though
that has nothing to do with "herald angels," I realize).

Carol, whose sources show an exclamation point after "Hark"