Why this word is great
SKOMOROKH — [Noun] A medieval East Slavic itinerant performer, acting as a jester, musician, singer, and dancer. Its etymology is as peripatetic as the figure: borrowed from Russian скоморох (skomorox), from Old East Slavic скоморохъ (skomoroxŭ), of uncertain origin; leading hypotheses suggest derivation from Ancient Greek σκώμμαρχος (skṓmmarkhos, "leader of jesters") from σκῶμμα (skômma, "joke") + ἀρχός (arkhós, "leader"), or from Italian scaramuccia ("skirmish, buffoon"). Unlike a harlequin, a defined character from the Italian stage, or a bard, a formalized singer of heroic chronicles, the skomorokh was a creature of the dirt road and the village square. He is the jangle of bells on a motley sleeve at a dusty crossroads, the acrid smell of a bear led on a rope, the raw thump of a gusli string in a firelit clearing—a fleeting, anarchic spark of laughter in the long feudal night, the last sound to leave a dying fire.