Etymologically
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troubadour

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈtruːbəˌdɔː/ (UK); /ˈtrubəˌdɔr/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French troubadour,[2][3][4][5] from Old Occitan trobador,[2][3][4][5] from trobar (“to find; earlier, to invent a song, compose in verse”),[3][4][6] perhaps from Vulgar Latin *tropāre (“to compose, sing”), especially in the form of tropes,[2][3][4][5] from Latin tropus (“song; trope”) (see trope).[2][3][4][5] French trouver (“to find”) and trouvère are from the same verb.[7][6][8] Etymonline reports a rival theory among French etymologists.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

One of a class of lyric poets of southern France, eastern Spain and northern Italy in the 11th to 13th centuries (1727 in Etymonline and Barnhart; 1727–41 in the OED; about 1741 in Merriam-Webster).[4][3][9][5]

Semantic evolution

The troubadours wrote in the language of Provence, in complex metrical forms, chiefly about courtly love;[2][10][11] many were of knightly rank.[5][12] From 1826 the word was extended to anyone who composes or sings verses or ballads,[9] and to a strolling minstrel or a singer of folk songs.[2][5][10]

Timeline

  • 1727 – a Provençal lyric poet.[4][3][9]
  • 1826 – any composer or singer of verses.[9]
  • 1849 – troubadourish.[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. One of a class of lyric poets and poet-musicians of the 11th to 13th centuries, chiefly in Provence and northern Italy, who composed songs in the langue d'oc, mostly about courtly love.
  2. A strolling minstrel; a singer, especially of folk songs.
  • trouvère
  • trope
  • trover
  • contrive
  • jongleur
  • minstrel

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  9. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  12. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster