BINÔMES ET POLYNÔMES DANS LA CHANÇUN D’WILLAME

Binomials and Polynomials in the Chançun d’Willame. The paper explores binomial constructions (a common stylistic feature of all European medieval literatures) in the Old French epic poem Chançun d’Willame (c. 1200). It analyses the frequency, position, internal structure, and degree of variation of this figure in the poem’s two parts, and compares them to binomial constructions in the Song of Roland, and in romances from the same period. The paper shows that, at a micro-level, this stylistic figure is yet another feature distinguishing the two parts of the William poem. In the more archaïc part, binomials are rigid and formulaic, while in the more recent, romance-like part, they are flexible and creative. At the macro-level, binomial constructions are similarly used (often to achieve assonance) in this poem and in Roland, but differently in the romances. Binomials thus belong to the complex system of formal clues that characterise a medieval “genre”.