The Old French Romance of Amadas et Ydoine. An Historical Study

This chapter examines the presence of song and sound in romance, with a particular focus on the traditions of Old French romance from its incarnation in the 1170s, in the works of Chrétien de Troyes, to the earliest examples of romances interpolated with song (romans à chansons) which date from the first decades of the thirteenth century. Romance’s emergence coincided with a period of extraordinary creativity in the realm of vernacular song, most notably with the emergence of a northern lyric tradition of the trouvères, with the continued cultivation of their Occitan inspiration in the lyrics of the troubadours, and with the earliest efforts at codification of both, in songbooks or chansonniers, the earliest examples of which date from the 1230s. Drawing on approaches from musicology, literary studies, and sound studies, my chapter explores how sound manifests in this tradition, and proposes ways to listen to romance. Listening to romance in turn permits new ways to reframe song culture, particularly in the period prior to its notated codification, and the chapter has implications, too, for what musicology may learn from the sonic aspect of romance.

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Paired Adjectives in the Middle Welsh Ystorya Bown o Hamtwn

Studia Celto-Slavica ◽

10.54586/yzrt5331 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 281-282

Author(s):

Oksana Dereza ◽

Keyword(s):

Old French ◽

Parts Of Speech ◽

Adjective Pair ◽

Welsh Literature ◽

Stylistic Device ◽

Old French Romance

One of the stylistic devices typical for Medieval Welsh literature is the usage of paired adjectives. It occurs not only in the native tales but also in the adaptations of Continental material, such as an Old French romance of chivalry Geste de Boeve de Haumtone. Predominantly, the paired adjectives in the Welsh source Ystorya Bown o Hamtwn neither have any equivalents in the French source nor correspond to “adverb mult, tut, si, plus, bien + adjective” construction. This fact is indicative of the translator’s independence in stylistic organization of the text; it also draws our attention to the emphatic nature of paired adjectives. An adjective pair usually consists of either two synonyms or two words denoting attributes of a certain character or object: cadarn-wychyr “strong and brave”. However, there can be more than two adjectives in a “pair”; this stylistic device also covers other parts of speech.

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