saltimbanco
English edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Italian saltimbanco. Used thus in English because of the association with street performers, seen by the settled population in English-speaking culture as not to be trusted. A more usual and more accurate English word, derived from similar sources, is mountebank.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
saltimbanco (plural saltimbancos)
- A quack doctor, a fraud.
- Synonyms: mountebank, quack
Related terms edit
Italian edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Univerbation of salta + in + banco, literally “leap (or somersault) on the bench”.[1] Compare Sicilian sautavancu.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
saltimbanco m (plural saltimbanchi, feminine saltimbanca)
- acrobat
- Synonyms: acrobata, funambolo, giocoliere
- (figurative, derogatory) charlatan
- Synonyms: ciarlatano, (archaic) montambanco
Descendants edit
- → English: saltimbanco
- → French: saltimbanque
- → English: saltimbanque
- → Portuguese: saltimbanco
- → Spanish: saltimbanqui
- → Greek: σαλτιμπάγκος (saltimpágkos)
References edit
- ^ saltimbanco in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
Spanish edit
Noun edit
saltimbanco m (plural saltimbancos)
- Alternative form of saltimbanqui
Further reading edit
- “saltimbanco”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014