Based on an earlier Celtic term meaning “praise,” it contemptuously referred to a traveling musician. This evolved in different cultures. By the Middle Ages, in Ireland and Wales, it meant a poet or musician hired to create songs that praised the lord who hired them. They also composed and sang songs praising warriors. Later, the term bard came to mean a romantic poet. In the 1700 and 1800 there was a Celtic Revival that associated bards with the Druids. In this context a bard was a musician, a poet, and a story teller as part of the Druidic priesthood.
Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Sandra Kynes, author of several books, including The Herb Gardener's Essential Guide, Plant Magic, and the new Witches' Encyclopedia of Magical Plants, among many others.
Although a few old books...