minstrel, professional secular musician of the Middle Ages. The modern application of the term is general and includes the jongleurs. Certain very able jongleurs ceased their wanderings and were attached to a court to play or sing the songs of the troubadours or trouvères who employed them. To these and to some itinerant musicians was applied in the 14th cent. the term ménétrier and later ménestrel, from which the word minstrel is derived, to indicate a higher social class than jongleur. Increasing in number and influence, these minstrels were organized and given protection of the law. Their function was at times similar to that of the Welsh bard.

See E. Duncan, The Story of Minstrelsy (1907, repr. 1969).

minstrel XIII. ME. men(e)stral, min(i)stral, -el, — OF. menestral, -(e)rel, mini-, entertainer, handicraftsman, servant — Pr. menest(ai)ral officer, employed person, musician — late L. ministeriālis official, officer, f. ministerium MINISTRY; see -AL1.
So ministrelsy art of a minstrel; body of minstrels XIV; minstrel poetry XIX (Scott). — OF. menestralsie.

min·strel / ˈminstrəl/ • n. a medieval singer or musician, esp. one who sang or recited lyric or heroic poetry to a musical accompaniment for the nobility. ∎  a member of a band of entertainers with blackened faces who perform songs and music ostensibly of black American origin.

minstrel a medieval singer or musician, especially one who sang or recited lyric or heroic poetry to a musical accompaniment for the nobility. Recorded from Middle English, the word comes from Old French menestral ‘entertainer, servant’, via Provençal for late Latin ministerialis ‘servant’.

minstrel Itinerant musician and professional entertainer; more specifically, a secular musician, usually an instrumentalist. Minstrels were popular from the 12th to 17th centuries.

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