from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. A form of lyric verse of the Provençal troubadours satirizing political figures, personal rivals, or social morals.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. A mostly satirical song sung by the troubadours of Provence
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. A peculiar species of poetry, for the most part devoted to moral and religious topics, and commonly satirical, -- often used by the troubadours of the Middle Ages.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In music, a service-song (so called in distinction from a love-song), a kind of song composed by the trouvères and troubadours of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, usually to satirize the faults and vices of the great and of the society of their day
French, from Provençal sirventes, from Old Provençal, from sirvent, servant (the position of a lover towards his mistress), from Latin serviēns, servient-, present participle of servīre, to serve, from servus, servant.(American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
French sirvente, from Pr. sirventes, sirventesc, originally, the poem of, or concerning, a sirvent, from sirvent, properly, serving, n., one who serves (e.g., as a soldier), from servir to serve, Latin servire. (Wiktionary)