villanelle

English

Etymology

From the French villanelle, from Italian villanella, from villano (“peasant”), from Latin vīllānus (“farmhand”), from vīlla (“estate”). The origin references the pastoral themes originally associated with this form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɪləˈnɛl/

• Rhymes: -ɛl

Noun

villanelle (plural villanelles)

1. (poetry) A type of poem, consisting of five tercets and one quatrain, with only two rhymes.
   • 1966, Louise Baughan Murdy, Sound and sense in Dylan Thomas's poetry (Studies in English Literature), The Hague: Mouton & Co, →ISBN, page 96:

     By definition the villanelle is restrictive, because it demands nineteen lines on two rhymes in six stanzas, the first and third lines of the opening tercet recurring alternately at the end of the concluding quatrain.

Derived terms

• villanellist

 

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian villanella.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vi.la.nɛl/

Noun

villanelle f (plural villanelles)

1. (poetry) villanelle

Further reading

• “villanelle”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vil.laˈnɛl.le/
• Rhymes: -ɛlle
• Hyphenation: vil‧la‧nèl‧le

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French, from Italian villanella.

Noun

villanelle f (plural villanelli)

1. (poetry) villanelle

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

villanelle f

1. plural of villanella