troubadour
[troo-buh-dawr, -dohr, -doo r]
- 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.
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Origin of troubadour
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
minstrelsongwritercroonerartistmusicianbardpoetsongsterjongleurballadeeraccompanistvocalistminnesingerserenadertrouveurExamples from the Web for troubadours
Contemporary Examples
Is David Wildstein joining this list of great New Jersey troubadours by singing to the U.S. Attorney?
Historical Examples
The rise of the Troubadours is due wholly to Oriental influences.
Woman's Work in MusicArthur Elson
They are the troubadours these birds, the wanderers whose souls are in their voices.
In the OpenStanton Davis Kirkham
I lived at the court of Avalon, the home of Love and Troubadours.
Under the Witches' MoonNathan Gallizier
Suddenly all the music of the troubadours was hushed in dreadful expectation.
The Eighteen Christian CenturiesJames White
Im booked with the Troubadours from the first of July; next Monday.
Twos and ThreesG. B. Stern
troubadour
- 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
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Word Origin
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
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Word Origin and History for troubadours
troubadour
n.
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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
troubadours
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.