The article discusses the linguistic interpretation of the lexeme скомрахъ and its derivatives (скомрашьскъ, скомрашина), preserved in early texts of Bulgarian descent. The complex analysis (etymological, semantic, and lexicographic) regarding (1) Byzantine samples and (2) data from Bulgarian dialects, reveals that the скомрахъ lexeme had been known to the South Slavonic (Old Bulgarian) men of letters and had a wide semantic field, naming diverse forms of syncretic artistic creativity, related to the comic and the parodic.
Key words: Old Church Slavonic etymology and lexicography
