Note 188 — Fabre d’Olivet (continued 2)
Nayán Louise Redfield translation
The sonnets are of Oscan origin. The word son signifies a song in the ancient langue d’oc. The word sonnet is applied to a little song, pleasing and of an affected form.
The madrigals are of Spanish origin as their name sufficiently proves. The word gala signifies in Spanish a kind of favour, an honour rendered, a gallantry, a present. Thus Madrid-gala arises from a gallantry in the Madrid fashion.
The sylves, called sirves or sirventes by the troubadours, were kinds of serious poems, ordinarily satirical. These words come from the Latin sylva which, according to Quintilius, is said of a piece of verse recited ex-tempore (l. x., c. 3).