tenson

[ ten-sohn ]

noun

1. a Provençal poem taking the form of a dialogue or debate between two rival troubadours.

Word History and Origins

Origin of tenson¹

1830–40; < French; Old French tençon < Provençal tensoun, tenso contest, dispute < Latin tēnsiōn- (stem of tēnsiō ); tension

Example Sentences

Among the Troubadours, this species of musical dialogue took the form of the tenson, or contention.

From Project Gutenberg

Disputes before these courts usually took the form of the tenson, or contention, already described.

From Project Gutenberg

When more than two singers took part in a tenson, it became a tournament.

From Project Gutenberg

Somewhere out in the gloom coyotes chattered and yelped, and from far across the dusky valley others answered—a doleful tenson.

From Project Gutenberg

Suppose, doctor, you were to get up a tenson a little more relative to our own wise days.

From Project Gutenberg