goliard

American  

[gohl-yerd] / ˈgoʊl yərd /

noun

(sometimes initial capital letter)

1. one of a class of wandering scholar-poets in Germany, France, and England, chiefly in the 12th and 13th centuries, noted as the authors of satirical Latin verse written in celebration of conviviality, sensual pleasures, etc.

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goliard British  

/ ˈɡəʊljəd, ɡəʊlˈjɑːdɪk /

noun

1. one of a number of wandering scholars in 12th- and 13th-century Europe famed for their riotous behaviour, intemperance, and composition of satirical and ribald Latin verse

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Other Word Forms

• goliardery noun
• goliardic adjective

Etymology

Origin of goliard

1275–1325; Middle English < Old French goliart, goliard drunkard, glutton, equivalent to gole throat ( French geule )+ -ard -ard ( def. )

Example Sentences

Those historians who regard the middle ages as completely dominated by ascetic ideals, regard the goliard movement as a protest against the spirit of the time.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 2 "Gloss" to "Gordon, Charles George" by Various

It is thus used in Piers Plowman, where, however, the goliard still rhymes in Latin, and in Chaucer.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 2 "Gloss" to "Gordon, Charles George" by Various

Giesebrecht and others, however, support the derivation of goliard from gailliard, a gay fellow, leaving “Golias” as the imaginary “patron” of their fraternity.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 2 "Gloss" to "Gordon, Charles George" by Various

The goliard poems are as truly “medieval” as the monastic life which they despised; they merely voice another section of humanity.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 2 "Gloss" to "Gordon, Charles George" by Various