Minstrel, jongleur

[Don José]

"Juglar" in Spanish.
Is there any difference between a minstrel and a jongleur?

[pjt33]

I think the main difference is probably that people have heard the word "minstrel" before and won't ask you what it means.

[wrholt]

Here in the US at least, "minstrel", "jongleur" and "troubador" are viewed as more-or-less synonymous terms, at least when used alone.

To my ear, "minstrel" suggests a singer/musician who performed popular songs for a general audience, while "troubador" suggests a singer/musician who performed songs for a more high-class audience, and "jongleur" seems less specific, suggesting someone who was as likely to have been a juggler or other type of act as to be a singer/musician.

The word "minstrel" has a negative association in the US today due to the expression "minstrel show", which was a type of popular entertainment from the later 19th and earler 20th century that featured humorous songs, instrumental pieces, and skits that parodied the lives of American Negroes.

[Don José]

The "trovador" is clearly different. They were composers and poets, a kind of songwriters who were often members of the nobility.

The "juglar", from the common people, is what you say for jongleur: a kind of street enterteiner who could sing, play instruments, tell stories, do juggling, acrobatics...

Both words, in Spanish (or in Spain), are used for Middle Ages persons. From your post, I assume that the minstrel is not always related to the Middle Ages. What about the jongleur?

Thanks for weekend commnents.

[Rusty]

Unlike wrholt, I've never heard the word jongleur used, and would have to look up the meaning (like pjt33, I assume).
I would use jester (court jester) to name an entertainer from the Middle Ages.
In today's world, I would use street entertainer or a juggler. If the street entertainer is performing magic, I would say he's a street magician (but only when he is out on the street). On stage, he'd be a stage magician.

[poli]

The word we use for jongleur is busker or street entertainer. Busker is a term more commonly heard in Britain than the United States (buskers of Covent Garden for instance) but it's a word generally known among show folk in New York as well.

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by Don José

...
Both words, in Spanish (or in Spain), are used for Middle Ages persons. From your post, I assume that the minstrel is not always related to the Middle Ages. What about the jongleur?...

In the US at least, minstrel, with no other context, usually implies a (street) performer from the Middle Ages.

Originally Posted by Rusty

Unlike wrholt, I've never heard the word jongleur used, and would have to look up the meaning (like pjt33, I assume).
...

I learned the word "jongleur" while I was a university student because my particular social circle included members of my school's local chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism; those who played at medieval-style entertainments called ourselves "jongleurs". (I played my trombone, and called it a sackbut, for example. Others played recorders, shawms, rackets, and other odd instrucments. Some of us sang madrigals. And some did non-musical acts.)

[Don José]

Originally Posted by wrholt

In the US at least, minstrel, with no other context, usually implies a (street) performer from the Middle Ages.

i was thinking in that "minstrel show" you mentioned. Apart from that, I think the conclusion is that "jongleur" and "minstrel" have the same meaning.

poli: I already learnt the word "busker" when busking myself in Ireland. That word, anyway, is a "recent" word:

Origin of BUSKER

busk, probably from Italian buscare to procure, gain, from Spanish buscar to look forFirst Known Use: 1857

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/busker