Plural of bayard; foolish persons, or in historical contexts, strong bay-colored horses.
From medieval French 'Bayard', a legendary magical horse of great strength but questionable vision, from the Renaud de Montauban cycle. The figurative sense developed to mean any foolish person.
The word 'bayard' survived for centuries as a way to call someone foolish—all because of one magical horse in medieval French literature—showing how deeply fictional characters can embed themselves in living language.
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