Arlabecca

The "arlabecca" was a genre of Occitan lyric poetry. First mentioned in an "ensenhamen" by Peire Lunel. It was translated by François Juste Marie Raynouard as "complainte" or "chant funèbre" and by Emil Levy as "sorte de poésie". It may derive from the Galician-Portuguese term "arrabecca" for a rebec. The term "rebec" (pl. "rebecz") can be found in Old Provençal references to both an instrument and a genre (in the "Leys d'amors", where it is undefined). Possibly it is the same genre as the "arlabecca". The "arlabecca" mentioned by Lunel was defined by metre and thus the "ensenhamen" in which it is referenced was an "arlabecca" as well.

ources

*Frank M. Chambers. "An Introduction to Old Provençal Versification". DIANE Publishing, 1985. See pp. 256–7.