Editor's Note

This issue of Tenso is special for several reasons.

First, we publish here our longest article ever, 54 pages, on the etymology of trobar and trobador, two words central to our interests. It seemed fitting to give Bill Paden the space he needed to present his case: an expansion, development, and further documentation of ideas first proposed by Yakov Malkiel, that the etymon of trobar is not immediately related to "finding" but, rather, is tied to poetic and compositional practice. This improved etymology should serve to further elevate the status of our poets and performers, not that the troubadours themselves need validation.

This issue includes a necrology for Bill Calin, who came to Occitan in mid-career and became one of the language's strongest advocates in North America, as his publications on Renaissance and modern authors demonstrate. I spent time with Bill when we were students together at an Occitan summer school in 1984. He was just diving into Max-Philippe Delavouët (1920-1990) and his œuvre; Bill much appreciated the fact that as an American, he could study a living author, something more or less forbidden, he thought, to scholars working in France at the time. He imagined a three-act stage play based on this problem, where a starving French doctoral student, having completed all the research, would need to wait for his subject to die before the soutenance could be scheduled. Years would pass; finally, the tension and stress would drive the student to kill the author, just so as to defend his thesis. For many years, Bill served on the Editorial Board of Tenso, vetting submissions relating to Occitan literature composed after 1500. His editorial judgment was firm; his critiques of submissions to the point. As is the practice of this journal, he always offered authors concrete suggestions to improve their articles.

Another landmark, though perhaps not for Tenso: the founder and editor-in-chief has moved from Louisville, where Tenso has been based since its founding in 1985, to Philadelphia. This move will not lead to a change in publication location for Tenso, as I am still affiliated with the University of Louisville. The Société Guilhem IX has seen any number of address changes; I do not think my change of mailing address will be significant, particularly in the world of e-communication, except that back issues of the journal will now be housed in Columbus, Ohio, rather than at the University of Louisville in Kentucky.

This is volume 34 of the "bulletin" of the Société Guilhem IX. When the Société was established, the founders envisaged a newsletter (whence the use of the term 'bulletin') rather than the scholarly journal Tenso very quickly became. Thirty-four volumes serve as a confirmation of continuing scholarly interest in matters Occitan and an affirmation of the longevity of the journal, as they speak to the dedication of its staff, subscribers, and readers. En aban!