minstrel
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmɪnstɹ(ə)l/
Forms: form: minstrels
Etymology: The noun is derived from Middle English minstral, menestrel (“actor; juggler; mime; musician; singer; storyteller; (military) soldier playing a horn or trumpet as a signal”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman menestrel [and other forms] and Old French menestrel (“artisan; servant; itinerant musician or poet; worker”) [and other forms] (modern French ménestrel (“minstrel”)), from Late Latin ministerialis (“official or retainer owing household and military service to a feudal lord, a ministerial or ministerialis”), from Latin ministerium (“employment, ministration; office of a minister, ministry; action or attendance by an inferior person such as a slave, service”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives). Ministerium is derived from minister (“accomplice; agent; aide; attendant; servant; waiter”) (probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“little, small”) + *-teros (contrastive or oppositional suffix forming adjectives)) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). Doublet of ministerial and ministerialis.
The verb is derived from the noun.
Senses: examples: text: I forgette to tel you what a ſtirre he keepes againſt dumbe ministers, and neuer writes nor talkes of them, but hee calleth them minſtrels, […]
ref: [1589?], Cutbert Curry-knaue [pseudonym; Thomas Nashe], An Almond for a Parrat, or Cutbert Curry-knaues Almes. […], [London]: […] [Eliot’s Court Press], →OCLC, folio [8], verso:
text: Should a Minſtrel ſing to a ſweet tune with her voice, and play to another with her hand that is harſh and diſpleaſing; ſuch muſick would more grate the judicious ear, than if ſhe had ſung to what ſhe plaid? Thus to ſing to truth with our judgement, and play wickedneſs with our heart and hand in our life, is more abhorring to God and all good men, than where the judgement is erroneous, as well as the life ungodly.
ref: 1669, William Gurnall, “A Short Point from the Connexion of This Piece of Armour with the First; Righteousness with Truth”, in The Christian in Compleat Armour. Or, A Treatise, of the Saints VVar against the Devil; […], 5th edition, London: […] Ralph Smith, […], →OCLC, page 77, column 1:
text: [page xv] The Minstrels ſeem to have been the genuine ſucceſſors of the ancient Bards, who united the arts of Poetry and Muſic, and ſung verſes to the harp, of their own compoſing. […] [page xvi] [T]he Minſtrels continued a diſtinct order of men, and got their livelihood by ſinging verſes to the harp, at the houſes of the great.
ref: 1765, Thomas Percy, compiler, “An Essay on the Ancient English Minstrels”, in Reliques of Ancient English Poetry: […], volume I, London: […] J[ames] Dodsley […], →OCLC, pages xv–xvi:
text: But louder still the clamour grew, / And louder still the minstrels blew, / When, from beneath the greenwood tree, / Rode forth Lord Howard's chivalry; […]
ref: 1805, Walter Scott, “Canto Fourth”, in The Lay of the Last Minstrel: A Poem, London: […] [James Ballantyne] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], and A[rchibald] Constable and Co., […], →OCLC, stanza XVI, page 107:
text: The Minstrel-Boy to the war is gone, / In the ranks of death you'll find him; / His father's sword he has girded on, / And his wild harp slung behind him.
ref: 1813, Thomas Moore (lyricist), John Stevenson (composer), “The Minstrel-Boy”, in A Selection of Irish Melodies. […], number 5, London: J. Power, […], →OCLC, verse I, page 30:
text: A wandering minstrel I— / A thing of shreds and patches, / Of ballads, songs and snatches, / And dreamy lullaby!
ref: 1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert; Arthur Sullivan, composer, […] The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London: Chappel & Co., […], →OCLC, Act I, page 4:
text: The hero of the verses, Adam Glen, who composed the air to which they are sung, was a well-known wandering minstrel, long a favourite in every farmer's ha', village, and fair, in the west of Angus, and in eastern Forfarshire.
ref: 1901, “Pawkie Adam Glen”, in Robert Ford, editor, Vagabond Songs and Ballads of Scotland: With Many Old and Familiar Melodies […] (Second Series), Paisley, Renfrewshire; London: Alexander Gardner […], →OCLC, page 172:
synonyms: bard
jongleur
troubadour
glosses: Originally, an entertainer employed to juggle, play music, sing, tell stories, etc.; a buffoon, a fool, a jester; later, a medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment.
examples: text: One flame-winged brought a white-winged harp-player / Even where my lady and I lay all alone; / Saying: "Behold, this minstrel is unknown; / Bid him depart, for I am minstrel here: / Only my strains are to Love's dear ones dear."
ref: 1881, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, “The House of Life. Sonnet IX. Passion and Worship.”, in Ballads and Sonnets, London: Ellis and White, […], →OCLC, part I (Youth and Change), page 171:
glosses: Any lyric poet, musician, or singer.
examples: text: After tea it was the entertainment. Songs and conjuring and a play called "Box and Cox," very amusing, and a lot of throwing things about in it—bacon and chops and things—and nigger minstrels. We clapped till our hands were sore.
ref: 1904, Edith Nesbit, The New Treasure Seekers, Chapter 2:
glosses: One of a troupe of entertainers, often a white person who wore black makeup (blackface), to present a so-called minstrel show, being a variety show of banjo music, dance, and song (now sometimes regarded as racist).
examples: text: These include dexamphetamine ( Dexedrine 'dexies ' or 'oranges'), methylamphetamine (Methedrine—'speed'), dexamphetamine combined with amylobarbitone (Drinamyl—'purple hearts' or 'blues'), amphetamine combined with dexamphetamine (Anorexine 12.5 mg - black and white minstrels' and Anorexine 20 mg—'black bombs'), phemetrazine (Preludin), diethylpropion (Tenuate), and methylphenidate (Ritalin).
ref: 1970, SAMT, page 613:
text: Lacking food, Jimmy reverts to his “minstrels'” — speed — and in a paranoia of drugs and near-starvation the pair fall out.
ref: 2008, Julian Evans, Semi-Invisible Man: The Life of Norman Lewis, page 510:
text: Roger had always been ... libidinous, aren't we all? ... but his powerful body began to writhe with the unearthly flexions of the Kundalini spirit, and after swallowing a couple of nigger minstrels Lesley had given him he spent most of one Friday morning house meeting sitting cross-legged, clutching his crotch and chanting, My dick is God, God is my dick ... over and over again, until Zack had though he would stick my fingers in his eyes, my thumb in his third one, and tear his bloody head off! – Skinning up and smoking a little shit – this Zack hadn't minded, and with two or three residents, in the right surroundings and carefully guided, he believed LSD could have therapeutic benefits.
ref: 2014, Will Self, Shark:
text: Harry tipped the contents of Billy's bag on to his desk: boosters, purple hearts, black bombers, French blues, nigger minstrels spilled out, popping across the desk like jumping beans.
ref: 2018, J. L. Walker, Jump and Dance, page 151:
glosses: An amphetamine tablet, typically black, or black and white, in colour.
Derived terms: word: God's minstrel
word: minstrelesque
word: minstreless
word: minstrel gallery
word: minstrels' gallery
word: minstrelry
word: minstrelship
word: minstrel show
word: minstrel song
word: minstrelsy
Related terms: vaudeville