中世紀的走唱藝人
這一支就是核心畫面本身：受雇表演的人，有的住在貴族家裡，有的一村一村走。
noun · C1
A singer or musician in the Middle Ages who made a living by performing, either travelling from place to place or working in the house of a lord.
（中世紀的）吟遊詩人、走唱藝人
核心畫面
Think of someone who earns a living by standing up in front of a room: an instrument under the arm, songs and stories ready, a night's food and bed as the payment. That is the whole word — a paid performer, not a poet at a desk. Both meanings are people doing that job; what changes is the century they are doing it in, and what their act was made of.
可以想成一個靠「站到人前表演」吃飯的人：樂器夾在腋下，肚子裡裝著歌和故事，換來的是一頓飯和一個過夜的地方。這個字的重…更多收起
可以想成一個靠「站到人前表演」吃飯的人：樂器夾在腋下，肚子裡裝著歌和故事，換來的是一頓飯和一個過夜的地方。這個字的重點在於「受雇表演的人」，不是坐在書桌前寫詩的人。兩個意思都是在做這份工作，差別只在世紀不同，以及節目的內容是什麼。From the word’s history
From Old French menestrel, and before that Late Latin ministerialis, a servant or retainer with a duty in a lord's household. The word began as 'someone employed in a household' and narrowed to the one whose job was to entertain.
這個字來自古法文 menestrel，再往上是晚期拉丁文 ministerialis：領主家裡「有職務在身的僕人」。所以它一開始的意思是「受雇在別人家做事的人」，後來才縮小成專指其中負責娛樂的那一個。這說明了為什麼核心畫面是「工作」，不是「浪漫」。
Wiktionary entry for 'minstrel' (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:794178547): "from Anglo-Norman menestrel and Old French menestrel (artisan; servant; itinerant musician or poet; worker), from Late Latin ministerialis (official or retainer owing household and military service to a feudal lord)."
Two branches
二十世紀初的黑臉秀演員
同樣是「受雇表演的人」，但這一支不是從中世紀那個意思長出來的比喻，而是十九、二十世紀的演出團直接借用了這個舊招牌。畫面雖然共用「表演者」三個字，內容和評價完全不同，讀的時候要靠年代分辨。
noun · C1
One of a group of performers in shows that were popular in the 1920s, especially in the United States, in which white singers and dancers darkened their faces to imitate Black people. These shows are now widely seen as racist.
（黑臉滑稽秀的）表演者