English

Noun

joculatrix ‎(plural joculatrices)

1. (obsolete) A female joculator; a female jester, comedian or entertainer.
   • 1839, G. Long (ed), The Penny Cyclopædia, page 250:

     Joculator Regis is an officer holding no less than three vills in the return of the Domesday Survey for Gloucestershire; and in the same survey, in Surrey, we have a Joculatrix.

   • 1903, Frederic Stewart Isham, Under the Rose:

     He had heard that in far-away France the motley was not confined to men. Had not Jeanne, queen of Charles I, possessed her jestress, Artaude de Puy, "folle to our dear companion," as said the king? Had not Madame d'Or, wearer of the bells, kept the nobles laughing? Had not the haughty, eccentric Don John, his handsome, merry joculatrix, attached to his princely household?

   • 2003, Carolyne Larrington, Women and Writing in Medieval Europe: A Sourcebook, ISBN 9781134843336, page 217:

     Other artistic endeavours such as dance or musical performances are lost at the moment they are completed: how Adelina the 'joculatrix' mentioned in the Domesday Book came by her surname is now impossible to discover—the term may mean 'singer' or 'entertainer'.

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:joculatrix.

Synonyms

• joculator (specifically male)