tenson

American  

[ten-sohn] / tɛnˈsoʊn /

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of tenson

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tenson

I should much prefer a tenson of the twelfth century, when two or three masters of the Gai Saber discussed questions of love and chivalry.

From Gryll Grange by Thomas Love Peacock

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

From Woman's Work in Music by Arthur Elson

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

From The River and I by John G. Neihardt

Well, Miss Gryll, I should like, some winter evening, to challenge you to a tenson, and your uncle should be umpire.

From Gryll Grange by Thomas Love Peacock

The name of tenson was given to those poetical contests in verse which took place in the Courts of Love, or before illustrious princes.

From Handbook of Universal Literature From the Best and Latest Authorities by Anne C. Lynch Botta