The jester is a complex character, emerging from or overlapping with a raggle-taggle round up of entertainers, advisers, hangers-on, pranksters, wits, ‘naturals’, musicians, poets, troubadours, tricksters, actors, mimes, folk fools, dwarfs and hunchbacks. Did we miss anyone?  

They existed in many places over long stretches of time. The words used to name them and their skills evolved over time and what might nowadays imply ‘actor’ may at an earlier time have meant ‘jester’. Or vice versa.  

In the main languages covered in Fools Are Everywhere, the lexicon of jesterdom is rich and to a degree messy. It may be equally so in other languages. Yet certain words start to crop up when you’re seeking examples across diverse cultures, and your first words in unknown languages are those which might uncover a new seam of materials to be mined; I soon learned to look for ‘skomorokhi’ in Russian bibliographic references, a word which will certainly be addressed here.