saltimbanque

English

Etymology

From French saltimbanque, from Italian saltimbanco, from saltare (“to jump”) + banco (“bench, platform, stage”).

Noun

saltimbanque (plural saltimbanques)

1. 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

• saltimbank

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian saltimbanco.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sal.tɛ̃.bɑ̃k/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

saltimbanque m (plural saltimbanques)

1. street entertainer

Further reading

• “saltimbanque”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
• saltimbanque on the French Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^fr