Note 126 — Chapter II · MIMUS AND SCÔP

Wright-Wülker, 150, 311, 539. A synonym for scôp is leodwyrhta. On 188 lyricus is glossed scôp. But the distinctive use of scôp is not in all cases maintained, e.g. tragicus vel comicus unwurð scôp (188), comicus scôp (283), comicus id est qui comedia scribit, cantator vel artifex canticorum seculorum, idem satyricus, i. scôp, ioculator, poeta (206). Other western peoples in contact with Latin civilization came to make the same classification of poet and buffoon. Wackernagel, i. 51, says that the German liuderi or poet is opposed to the skirnun or tûmarâ, scurra or mimus. The buffoon is looked askance at by the dignified Scandinavian men of letters (Saxo Grammaticus, Hist. Danica, transl. Elton, vi. 186); and Keltic bardism stands equally aloof from the clerwr (cf. p. 76). Of course Kelts and Teutons might conceivably have developed their buffoons for themselves, independently of Roman influence, but so far as the Germans go, Tacitus, Germ. 24, knows no spectaculum but the sweorda-gelác or sword-dance (ch. ix).