intransitive "hail as" = 'be; count as'

[Mark A. Mandel]

Over my morning coffee I was startled by this sentence:

"She currently hails as chief librarian of the Moorland-Spingarn
Research Center..."

(_Rolling Out - Philadelphia_ v3n02, April 15, 2004., p. 8? (many pages
not numbered)  Column:  Work in Progress. [focus on Jean Currie Church,
Chief Librarian, Howard University])

This use of "hail" was new to me. I took it as an extension, possibly
erroneous, of "hail from" 'be from [a place]'.

I Googled for "hails as". There were "about 1,620" hits. Twelve of the
first 50 were examples of this construction. I've listed them below,
with URLs and occasional notes on date or possible dialect. Most of the
others were of the form "<noun phrase>, which so-and-so hails as <words
of praise>" or "So-and-so hails as <w.o.p.> <NP>", with the occasional
surname thrown in to keep me on my toes: "with So-and-so Hails as
<role>".

Most of these usages refer to the subject as a superlative (first,
biggest, best) or one of a small group of such ("the club's third
double-digit scorer"), and could also be understood as "... rules!" or
"... reigns". The Rolling Out citation that started me off is in the
same category. But the second Google hit ("new server hails as
Merlins_Rook") is AFAICT equivalent to "is called, is named".

Anyway, it's new to me, and I don't see it in the online versions of MW
or OED.

-- Mark A. Mandel, Research Administrator
   Information Extraction from the Biomedical Literature
   University of Pennsylvania

===

http://www.amstat.org/pressroom/president2001.html

[ambiguous: could refer to his statement]

RICHARD L. SCHEAFFER HAILS AS 2001 PRESIDENT OF THE AMERCIAN STATISTICAL
ASSOCIATION

ALEXANDRIA, VA- The American Statistical Association (ASA) is pleased to
announce that Richard L. Scheaffer, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus,
University of Florida, Department of Statistics, Gainesville, Fl. has
assumed the office of President of the American Statistical Association,
the nation's preeminent professional statistical society

===

http://www.dstinson.com/techsupp/network/

The new server hails as Merlins_Rook and is a dual-Pentium III with
512Mbytes of memory and running Windows NT4 Server.

===

http://www.rhymerecords.com/staff.aspx
(Staff evidently of Indian origin or descent; postal addresses in US,
Canada, & India.)

Srikumar hails as the grossly respected music director within our pool
of talent responsible for the creation of the musical soundscapes that
appeals so much to your senses.

===

http://www.arts.arizona.edu/band/prospective/history.html

Jack Lee, who directed the band from 1952-1980, composed Bear Down
Arizona which hails as the school's beloved fight song to this day.

===

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=25530
[DECEMBER 10, 2002]
Although WorldCom still hails as the nation's No. 2 long-distance
communications company and one of the world's largest Internet carriers,

===

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/undergrad/uac/tutoring/tutorbios_htoo.html
[Last modified on 12/01/03]
[Singapore native, junior at Stanford]
 I also enjoy savoring desserts, and apple cobbler hails as my all-time
favorite.

===

http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/endspec/hellfs.html
[last modified on March 1, 2003]
Inhabiting only two of New York State's river drainages, the eastern
hellbender is an intriguing and bizarre animal and hails as the
Americas' largest aquatic salamander.

===

http://www.cityathletes.com/advertising.php?nav=reg&cnl=

San Francisco hails as the most wired city in the U.S.,

===

http://www.uapb.edu/source/culture/culture_blues_review.html
[March 18, 2004]
Music forever hails as the universal language

===

http://ccaccwinnipeg04.ca/english/Keynote%20Presentations.htm
[Last modified: 04/07/04 ]
Her book Healing Through the Dark Emotions is a regional bestseller and
hails as one of the best spiritual books of 2003.

===

http://www.elliotthester.com/column_stpetersburg_01.html
[8/24/03? see "8/24" in left-hand pane, and text of "1/26" column]
[not Singaporean; US-based travel writer]
Orchard Road hails as Singapore's most alluring thoroughfare.

===

http://www.mstateathletics.com/0,5604,1__0_52881,00.html
[Mar 11, 2004]
junior Winsome Frazier hails as the club's third double-digit scorer


-- Mark A. Mandel, Research Administrator
   Information Extraction from the Biomedical Literature
   University of Pennsylvania