Interesting that mountebank would be one of the chosen words for this week's theme. Although the roots are different, charlatan and mountebank have precisely the same etymological meaning, i.e. someone who jumps onto a bench to pitch his wares. One of the last mountebanks, Ralph A. Marcom, who performed at renaissance festivals as MarcoM the Mountebank DO, MIMC, passed away on October 13, 2010. He was the author of Lord of Legerdemain, a handbook for renaissance festival performers. He spoke a half-dozen languages fluently. His favorite plaything was the English language.