Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

jongleur

[jong-gler; French zhawn-glœr]
See more synonyms for jongleur on Thesaurus.com
noun, plural jon·gleurs [jong-glerz; French zhawn-glœr] /ˈdʒɒŋ glərz; French ʒɔ̃ˈglœr/.
  1. (in medieval France and Norman England) an itinerant minstrel or entertainer who sang songs, often of his own composition, and told stories.
Show More
Compare goliard.

Origin of jongleur

1755–65; < French; Middle French jougleur (perhaps by misreading, ou being read on), Old French jogleor < Latin joculātor joker, equivalent to joculā(rī) to joke + -tor -tor
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for jongleur

Historical Examples

  • And is not all this what every dissour and jongleur tells us of in his stories of Merlin?

    The Last Of The Barons, Complete

    Edward Bulwer-Lytton

  • Their name, "jongleur," like "charity," covers a multitude of sins.

    Life on a Mediaeval Barony

    William Stearns Davis

  • Far, far away in some distant steading, the jongleur heard the crowing of a cock.

    The Serf

    Guy Thorne

  • A jongleur was a singer who was not a poet, though he might make songs.

  • The troubadour, minstrel and jongleur or joglar, were not the same in dignity.

British Dictionary definitions for jongleur

jongleur

noun
  1. (in medieval France) an itinerant minstrel
Show More

Word Origin

C18: from Old French jogleour, from Latin joculātor joker, jester; see juggle
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for jongleur

n.

"wandering minstrel," 1779, from Norman-French jongleur, variant of Old French jogleor, from Latin ioculator "jester, joker" (see juggler). Revived in a technical sense by modern writers.

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper