Descort

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A medieval lyric poem whose stanzas deliberately break from a regular metrical pattern, creating an intentionally unsettled rhythm
2. A troubadour-style verse form built on irregular stanzas and mismatched rhymes, used to express grief, complaint or unrest
3. An unconventional lyric form from the medieval Occitan tradition, where the stanzas are deliberately uneven and out of harmony

Etymology: Medieval troubadours used "descort" for a song that broke its own rules. Most lyric forms of the time repeated a fixed stanza pattern, but a descort changed its metre, rhyme, or even its language from one stanza to the next, so the form enacted the discord its name describes. The best-known example is Raimbaut de Vaqueiras's "Discordia," which shifts between Occitan, French, Italian, and Gascon, with a different verse pattern in each section. The word comes from Old Occitan, with the negating prefix "des-" attached to a root meaning "accord" or "harmony." The English word "discord" comes from the same family of Latin roots, but "descort" kept its sense as a specific poetic form rather than a general quarrel.

Synonyms: discord, dissonance, strife

Antonyms: concord, harmony, accord