‖ jongleur
(ʒɔ̃glœr)
[F. jongleur (anciently a minstrel, now a juggler or tumbler), altered or erroneous form of jougleur, in OF. jogleor:—L. joculātōr-em jester: see juggler. (Hatz.-Darm. suggest that the n was due to influence of OF. jangler.)]
The Norman French term (technically used by modern writers) for an itinerant minstrel, who sang and composed ballads, told stories and otherwise entertained people: = juggler 1.
| 1779 W. Alexander Hist. Women (1782) I. vii. 232 It was that of the Troubadours, or Poets, who composed sonnets in praise of their beauty; and of the Jongleurs who sung them at the courts and castles of the great. 1835 Lytton Rienzi vii. viii, A minstrel, or jongleur..with a small lute slung round him, was making his way..through the throng. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. xiv. iv. (1864) IX. 189 The Jongleurs (the reciters of the merry and licentious fabliaux). |
b. = juggler 2.
| a 1851 Moir Poems, The dark Waggon xv, On stage his sleights the jongleur shows. |