chanson de geste
- noun
- /ʃɑ̃ˈsɔ̃ də ʒɛst/
- Archaic
:
canción de gesta
- Many chansons de geste celebrate the exploits of knights.
Examples
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Roland is the hero of a well-known chanson de geste called 'La Chanson de Roland'.
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The chanson de geste was a popular genre in medieval French literature.
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Scholars study the chanson de geste to understand the values of medieval society.
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The chanson de geste is a significant part of French literature.
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The chanson de geste tells the tale of a brave knight who fought against great odds.
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Many historians study the chanson de geste to understand the heroic ideals of the medieval period.
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In class, we explored how the chanson de geste captures the spirit of chivalry and valor in its narratives.
Synonyms
3
6.7
A long poem that tells the adventures and deeds of a famous hero
1
7.6
Poems that tell the brave deeds of heroes from old stories
A long old poem that tells of a hero's brave deeds
A long poem that tells the brave deeds of a hero
How Epic
Surface Forms
Morphology
chanson + de + geste
The phrase literally combines French words meaning 'song' (chanson) + 'of' (de) + 'deeds' or 'heroic acts' (geste), so a learner who knows these constituents can infer 'song of deeds' — i.e. an epic recounting heroic actions. This compositional pattern has close cross-linguistic parallels (e.g. Spanish/medieval 'cantar de gesta', English 'song of deeds') and is not idiomatic, so it is readily comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows the parts.
Etymology
Chanson de geste literally means chanson 'song' and geste 'deeds' in old French. Medieval singers would perform long, sung stories about a hero's brave actions, so the phrase came to mean a long poem about heroic deeds.