[Bards] What is a bard?

[Jay Rudin]

Master Ulf wrote:


> I think the biggest hindrance here is the word "bard".  An historical
> title was given to an action happening in the S.C.A. many years ago and
> we are trying to retro-document the term to apply to the action.

In the SCA?  No -- the difference between the modern English word "bard" 
and the Celtic word "bardd" has nothing to do with the SCA.  We just speak 
English, that's all.  The word "bard" has a modern meaning in English that 
is not the same as the etymologically related word "bardd" in the Celtic 
languages.   It primarily means a poet, playwright or singer in the 
language we are actually speaking in.  The linguistic dissonance is coming 
from the simple fact that we are speaking a twenty-first century language 
in a pre-seventeenth century environment.

Using "bard" in the SCA without its modern meaning would be like saying 
that a stately, lordly and impressive king is pompous and boring, or that 
anyone who can't speak Greek is barbaric.   Yeah, that's what "pompous" and 
"boring" and "barbaric" originally meant, but etymology is not definition, 
or "digital computing" would meaning counting on your fingers.  Any of 
these usages in a modern English sentence would be a deliberate attempt to 
prevent communication.

> I found the use of the term "Kumquat" hilarious and an appropriate
> illustration of this. About the closest term that works is
> "performer"... well, no.  Some bards write poetry for their newsletter
> and never perform it.  Hmmm...  Okay, I'm a Kumquat.  But I cannot think
> of anyway to tell if I'm a third degree banana kumquat or a double
> raspberry kumquat.  But I do get asked to perform for several bananas
> and sometimes get a raspberry or two.

And you'll keep on performing, kumquat may.

Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin