saltimbanque
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English
Etymology
From French saltimbanque, from Italian saltimbanco, from saltare (“to jump”) + banco (“bench, platform, stage”).
Noun
saltimbanque (plural saltimbanques)
- Tumbler, street acrobat.
- 1956 June 11, “The New Pictures”, in Time:
- Circus is a simple, romantic ballet, set to some suitable music by France’s Jacques Ibert, laid in a village square of placardized baroque, and dressed in costumes that suggest the saltimbanques of Picasso.
- 1960, Henry Miller, Nexus, Obelisk Press, Chapter 13,
- Another day my hands might wander over the keys with the felicity of a Borgia’s murderous paw. Choosing the staccato technique, I would ape the quibblers and quipsters of the Ghibellines. Or put it on, like a saltimbanque performing for a feeble-minded monarch.
- 1988, Edmund White, chapter 1, in The Beautiful Room is Empty, New York: Vintage International, published 1994:
- Outside, saltimbanques of snow were leaping up and flipping backward.
Alternative forms
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian saltimbanco.
Pronunciation
Noun
saltimbanque m (plural saltimbanques)
Further reading
- “saltimbanque”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.
saltimbanque on the French Wikipedia.Wikipedia fr
