‖ conte
(kɔ̃t)
[Fr. (see count n.1).]
A short story (as a form of literary composition).
| 1891 Lang Essays in Little 205 Few men have succeeded both in the conte and the novel. 1908 Daily Chron. 26 Feb. 3/3 There is no demand for the conte in England. 1929 Encycl. Brit. VI. 328/1 The most perfect modern writer of contes is Guy de Maupassant. 1948 F. R. Leavis Great Tradition i. 2 The use made of him [sc. Defoe] in the nineteen-twenties by the practitioners of the fantastic conte (or pseudo-moral fable). |
b. spec. A medieval narrative tale (with express or implied reference to Marie de France's Guigemar, lines 19 and 883).
| 1906 Mod. Lang. Notes XXI. ii. 49/1 The author of Sir Orfeo makes here the same careful distinction between the tale (‘conte’ or ‘aventure’) and the Breton lai that Marie had made. 1929 M. Wattie Lai le Freine p. xvi, Obviously the Celtic lais arose out of narratives (contes). 1954 A. J. Bliss Sir Orfeo p. xxxii, There can be little doubt that these passages refer to a genuine Breton lai, not to a narrative lai, still less to a strictly Classical conte. |
So conteur (kɔ̃tœr), a composer of contes; also, a narrator.
| 1857 A. Mathews Tea-table Talk i. 153 Theodore Hook's..real disdain of..dancers, ‘reminds me’, as determined conteurs say, of another..more memorable evening. 1908 Mod. Lang. Notes XXIII. 205 (title) Thomas and Marie in their relation to the conteurs. Ibid. 207/2 We are apparently dealing here with a writer and one or several ‘conteurs’. 1965 R. S. Loomis in Bessinger & Creed Medieval & Linguistic Stud. 236 All these Welsh tales..were..adopted by the people of Vannes..and coming to the attention of the professional conteurs excited their imagination. |