Etymologically
Log in

troubadour

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 17:22. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /tʁu.ba.duʁ/[1]

Forms

troubadour m (plural troubadours, feminine troubadouresse or trobairitz)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Occitan trobador (“poet, composer”),[2][3][4][5] the oblique case of trobaire, from trobar (“to find; to compose verse”).[3][6][2] Trobar has the same origin as French trouver, from Latin Vulgar Latin *tropō (“to compose a melody, invent verse”),[7][3][8] and troubadour corresponds to the northern trouvère.[2][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Jean de Nostredame used it in 1575 in his Vies des anciens poètes provençaux, for the courtly lyric poets of the langue d'oc of the 12th and 13th centuries.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Pasquier explained in the 16th century that the poets were called troubadours because of what they “found”, that is, invented.[10] The word then seems to have been forgotten until 1690.[3] With the 19th-century vogue for the Middle Ages it was used, first ironically (Gautier, 1843), for a man who sings of love,[2][3] and in style troubadour (1851) for the pseudo-Gothic fashion in art and letters of the early 19th century.[2][3][6]

Soldiers' slang troubade “infantryman” (1860) is a joking formation from it.[4]

Timeline

  • 12th century – Old Occitan trobador.[2][3]
  • 1575 – French troubadour in Jean de Nostredame.[2][3]
  • 1690 – The word reappears after a long gap.[3]
  • 1843 – Ironical use in Gautier.[2]
  • 1851 – Style troubadour.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A troubadour, a courtly lyric poet of the langue d'oc in the 12th and 13th centuries.[9][2]
  2. (ironic) A singer or poet of love.[6][10]

Adjective

  1. Style troubadour: the 19th-century neo-Gothic style in art and literature.[9][6]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  7. ^ Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
  8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 319a
  9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette