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

The community has benefited from African Parks’ support for screening efforts, said Tenson Mkumbwa, deputy lab manager at the Nkhotakota District Hospital.

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But the later moralities, soties, and farces seem to be also in part a very probable development of the simpler and earlier forms of the fabliau and of the tenson or jeu-parti, a poem in simple dialogue much used by both troubadours 118 and trouv�res.

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A new career was opened to those who dared the combat—not of arms, but of verse; and the name of tenson, which was given to these dramatic skirmishes, in fact signified a contest.

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We have a tenson extant between the Marquis Albert Malespina and Rambaud de Vaqueiras, two of the most powerful lords and valiant captains at the commencement of the thirteenth century, in which they mutually accuse one another of having robbed on the highway and deceived their allies by false oaths.

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To the Provençal tenson corresponds the jeu parti or verse dialogue, which is sometimes arranged in the form of a Chanson.

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