Villancico
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A traditional Spanish (or Portuguese) folk song with short stanzas and a refrain; now especially common as a Christmas carol.
"The villancicos are strophic, but they tend not to extend to the many strophes of narration that were typical of the romance. A standard form for a villancico strophe is ABBA, in which the first A is called the estribillo (refrain), the Bs represent the statement of the music for the copla (stanza) twice (as copla and mudanza), and the return of the estribillo as the vuelta."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"The villancicos are strophic, but they tend not to extend to the many strophes of narration that were typical of the romance. A standard form for a villancico strophe is ABBA, in which the first A is called the estribillo (refrain), the Bs represent the statement of the music for the copla (stanza) twice (as copla and mudanza), and the return of the estribillo as the vuelta."
Etymology
From Spanish villancico, from villano (“peasant”), from Medieval Latin vīllānus (“villager”).