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A refrain (from Vulgar Latin refringere, "to repeat", and later from Old French refraindre) is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry—the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the villanelle , the virelay , and the sestina .
The word villanelle derives from the Italian villanella, referring to a rustic song or dance, [2] and which comes from villano, meaning peasant or villein. [3] Villano derives from the Medieval Latin villanus, meaning a "farmhand". [4] The etymology of the word relates to the fact that the form's initial distinguishing feature was the pastoral ...
A young child, asleep in his bed, awakes to hear a sound he describes as "a sound like someone trying not to make a sound". The child wakes his father and describes the sound to him. The child believes that the sound comes from a "monster with no arms and legs", which "slides on its fur" and "pulls itself along on its teeth". [1]
Folderol, a nonsense refrain in songs, is used in genres as diverse as Christmas songs ("Deck the Halls") and naval songs like "Don't Forget Your Old Shipmate". The European pop genre yé-yé was named after the frequent use of English-derived "Yeah!" as filler. Spanish yeyé signer Massiel won the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest with La, la, la.
A contronym is a word with two opposite meanings. For example, the word cleave can mean "to cut apart" or "to bind together". This feature is also called enantiosemy, [1] [2] enantionymy (enantio-means "opposite"), antilogy or autoantonymy. An enantiosemic term is by definition polysemic.
Word list Drawing up a comprehensive list of words in English is important as a reference when learning a language as it will show the equivalent words you need to learn in the other language to achieve fluency.
The Italian word for "echo"; an effect in which a group of notes is repeated, usually more softly, and perhaps at a different octave, to create an echo effect égal (Fr.) Equal eilend (Ger.) Hurrying ein wenig (Ger.) A little einfach (Ger.) Simple emporté (Fr.) Fiery, impetuous en animant (Fr.) Becoming very lively en cédant (Fr.) Yielding en ...
Analog synthesizer: Before synthesizers contained microchips, every stage of the internal electronic signal flow was analogous to a sound that would eventually be produced at the output stage, and this sound was shaped and altered as it passed through each filter and envelope.