troubadour

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

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 troubadours

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

Examples from the Web for troubadours

Contemporary Examples of troubadours

Is David Wildstein joining this list of great New Jersey troubadours by singing to the U.S. Attorney?
Is David Wildstein Going To Testify Against Chris Christie?
Olivia Nuzzi
April 7, 2014

Historical Examples of troubadours

The rise of the Troubadours is due wholly to Oriental influences.
Woman's Work in Music
Arthur Elson
They are the troubadours these birds, the wanderers whose souls are in their voices.
In the Open
Stanton Davis Kirkham
I lived at the court of Avalon, the home of Love and Troubadours.
Under the Witches' Moon
Nathan Gallizier
Suddenly all the music of the troubadours was hushed in dreadful expectation.
The Eighteen Christian Centuries
James White
Im booked with the Troubadours from the first of July; next Monday.
Twos and Threes
G. B. Stern

British Dictionary definitions for troubadours

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 troubadours

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.

troubadours in Culture

troubadours

Traveling poet-musicians who flourished in southern Europe during the twelfth century. They wrote songs about chivalry and love.