troubadour

[troo-buh-dawr, -dohr, -doo r]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR troubadour ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

one of a class of medieval lyric poets who flourished principally in southern France from the 11th to 13th centuries, and wrote songs and poems of a complex metrical form in langue d'oc, chiefly on themes of courtly love.Compare trouvère.

any wandering singer or minstrel.

Origin of troubadour

1720–30; < French < Provençal trobador, equivalent to trob(ar) to find, compose (see trover) + -ador < Latin -ātor -ator

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for troubadour

minstrel, songwriter, crooner, artist, musician, bard, poet, songster, jongleur, balladeer, accompanist, vocalist, minnesinger, serenader, trouveur

Examples from the Web for troubadour

Contemporary Examples of troubadour

Llewyn Davis is a troubadour and vagabond, one who happens to be in grief.
‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ Star Oscar Isaac Is About to Be a Very Big Deal
Kevin Fallon
December 5, 2013
The band is now touring Britain, after playing at the Troubadour in London and releasing their second CD.
‘Downton Abbey’ Star Elizabeth McGovern on Season 3, ‘Cheerful Weather for the Wedding,’ and More
Lorenza Muñoz
December 31, 2012

Historical Examples of troubadour

If poor Troubadour had not cast a shoe, we should not have had this trouble.
The White Company
Arthur Conan Doyle
Yates walked merrily down the road, whistling "Gayly the troubadour."
In the Midst of Alarms
Robert Barr
With that he was poet, troubadour, orator, as well as very eccentric and attractive.
Initiation into Philosophy
Emile Faguet
The songs of Marcabrun, the troubadour, find a place in the list among the stories.
Epic and Romance
W. P. Ker
The example of the first Jewish troubadour did not find imitators.
Jewish Literature and Other Essays
Gustav Karpeles

British Dictionary definitions for troubadour

troubadour

noun

any of a class of lyric poets who flourished principally in Provence and N Italy from the 11th to the 13th centuries, writing chiefly on courtly love in complex metric form

a singer

Word Origin for troubadour

C18: from French, from Old Provençal trobador, from trobar to write verses, perhaps ultimately from Latin tropus trope

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for troubadour

1727, from French troubadour "one of a class of lyric poets in southern France, eastern Spain, and northern Italy 11c.-13c.," from Old Provençal trobador, from trobar "to find," earlier "invent a song, compose in verse," perhaps from Vulgar Latin *tropare "compose, sing," especially in the form of tropes, from Latin tropus "a song" (see trope). The alternative theory among French etymologists derives the Old Provençal word from a metathesis of Latin turbare "to disturb," via a sense of "to turn up." Meanwhile, Arabists posit an origin in Arabic taraba "to sing." General sense of "one who composes or sings verses or ballads" first recorded 1826.