Scop

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An Old English poet or minstrel who composed and recited verses, often at the courts of kings and nobility
2. A Germanic bard from Anglo-Saxon times who created and performed poetry as a professional entertainer
3. An early English versifier and oral performer who sang or spoke composed works for aristocratic audiences

Etymology: "Scop" is the Old English word for a poet or bard, the performer who composed and recited verse, often to the accompaniment of a harp in the halls of early English kings and nobles. The word survives in the Old English poem "Beowulf," where scops appear as entertainers reciting tales of heroes and battles at feasts. Modern English borrowed the term back from scholarship. Scholars of Old English literature adopted "scop" as a technical label for these early poet-performers, so the word lives on mainly in academic writing rather than everyday speech. Its modern use is therefore a deliberate revival of an ancient native term, not a survival through common usage.

Synonyms: bard, poet, minstrel, skald