ABSTRACT
In the interest of readability, I have slighted the complexity of numerous polysemic terms. A glossary may give eleven valid equivalents of a term such as ric, a list including rich, noble, precious, happy, pleased, fortunate, abundant, and vain, but I have in each occurrence narrowed the choice to only one. Throughout the 36 poems, however, I have varied English equivalents for a single Occitan word: franc is honest in one poem, open in another; semblansa is opinion in one instance, expression in another; razo and its derivatives become argument, defense, reason, and thing. These shifts, plus our Guide to the Vocabulary, should convey some sense of the wide semantic fields in which key terms play. Similarly, in several instances (notably, the controversial Alaisina-Yselda tenso), identical Occitan words and phrases can be read in either sacred or secular contexts. We have sometimes privileged one frame of reference over another, while indicating the polyvalence in a note.
