Fescennine Verses
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Lampoons; so called from Fescennia in Tuscany, where performers at merry-makings used to extemporize scurrilous jests of a personal nature to amuse the audi- ence.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Fescennine Verses” mean?
Lampoons; so called from Fescennia in Tuscany, where performers at merry-makings used to extemporize scurrilous jests of a personal nature to amuse the audi- ence.
Is “Fescennine Verses” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.