fabliau

American  

[fab-lee-oh, fa-blee-oh] / ˈfæb liˌoʊ, fa bliˈoʊ /

noun

plural

fabliaux

1. a short metrical tale, usually ribald and humorous, popular in medieval France.

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fabliau British  

/ fɑblijo, ˈfæblɪˌəʊ /

noun

1. a comic usually ribald verse tale, of a kind popular in France in the 12th and 13th centuries

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Etymology

Origin of fabliau

1795–1805; < French; Old North French form of Old French fablel, fableau, equivalent to fable fable + -el diminutive suffix; -elle

Example Sentences

Jean de Condé is merely concerned to amuse the court of Hainault with a polished poem cast in this familiar mould, just as at other times he might regale it with the fabliau of Les Braies au Prestre or the dit of La Nonnette.

From Project Gutenberg

And in 'Le dit des Heureux,' an old French fabliau:— 'Tu as dit la patenotre Saint Julian � cest matin, Soit en Roumans, soit en Latin; Or tu seras bien ostil�.'

From Project Gutenberg

Par Saint Pierre le bon Apostre, L'ostel aurez Saint Julien,' says Mabile to her feigned uncle in the fabliau of 'Boivin de Provins;' and a similar idea appears in 'Cocke Lorell's bote,' where the crew, after the entertainment with the 'relygyous women' from the Stews' Bank, at Colman's Hatch, 'Blessyd theyr shyppe when they had done, And dranke about a Saint Julyan's tonne.'

From Project Gutenberg

In this respect the moderns have never returned to ancient simplicity; at least the fabliau, La Bataille des Vins, introduces us to 47 kinds of French wine in the 13th century.

From Project Gutenberg

Fabliau, fab-li-ō′, n. one of a group of over a hundred metrical tales, usually satirical in quality, produced in France from about the middle of the 12th to the end of the 13th century:—pl.

From Project Gutenberg