minstrel: Filks

[Tadhg O Cuileannain]

Well now--minstrel is from the French menestrel =
minister, meaning someone with a post in a household,
by implication a "minister of entertainment" or maybe
of music.  It's a word that doesn't show up until the
high middle ages.  It is distinct from medieval words
for "musician," which usually referred to someone with
academic training who performed liturgical music.  By
the high middle ages, the musical and poetic functions
in Ireland, at least (I don't believe this was the
case in Wales) were separate--the poets recited and
were accompanied by harpers.  Furthermore, the Irish
and Welsh bards were of high status, took their
cultural role very seriously, and would have been
deeply insulted to be classed with mere
entertainers--which is what minstrels were. (I'm
leaving out the difference in usage of "bard" between
Wales and Ireland--it's relevant but I don't have the
energy).

Tadhg

--- nickolas kaugon <ollaimh at yahoo.com> wrote:
> i assure you it means minstral inaelic. andhas for a
> few hundred years . in welsh i am no expert but i
> thought they used a p instead of a b, and in welsh
> like gaelic, poet and muscian are the same word.
> something lost on most modern scaers. in fact the
> whole definition of bard in the sca is a modern
> invention, ignoring, as usual the celtic roots.
> --- L Joseph <wodeford at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > 
> > --- nickolas kaugon <ollaimh at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > > oohh what does bard mean.
> > > 
> > > it comes from gaelic and meand minstral by the
> way
> > 
> > Actually, the word "bardd" (pronounced barth) is
> > Welsh
> > and means poet.
> > 
> > Tuppenceworth,
> > Jehanne de Wodeford
> > 
> > =====
> > "...and the next thing I knew I was wandering
> around
> > the Arizona desert in the dark with a hurdy gurdy
> > and a stuffed monkey."
> > 
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=====
**********************************
Tadhg O Cuilleannain of One Thousand Eyes
Tim Connor of Idaho Falls, Idaho
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