saltimbanque

Etymology

From French saltimbanque, from Italian saltimbanco, from saltare (“to jump”) + banco (“bench, platform, stage”).

saltimbanque means tumbler, street acrobat. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 82 out of 100.

Why “saltimbanque” is a great word

SALTIMBANQUE — [Noun] A public performer of acrobatic feats and tumbling, typically on an improvised outdoor stage. From French saltimbanque, from Italian saltimbanco, from saltare ("to jump") + banco ("bench, platform, stage"). Unlike a "jongleur," whose art leans toward juggling or recitation, or a "bateleur," whose craft is conjuring and sleight-of-hand, the saltimbanque is an artisan of pure, perilous physicality. He is the percussive slap of palms on sun-warmed boards, the precarious human arch formed on a threadbare carpet, and the sudden, gasping silence of a crowd as he hangs inverted—a fleeting monument to equilibrium, built always on the verge of collapse.

noun

Tumbler, street acrobat.“Circus is a simple, romantic ballet, set to some suitable music by France’s Jacques Ibert, laid in a village square of placardized baroque, and dressed in costumes that suggest the saltimbanques of Picasso.”