penillion

/ pɪˈnɪlɪən /

plural noun

1. the Welsh art or practice of singing poetry in counterpoint to a traditional melody played on the harp

Word History and Origins

Origin of penillion¹

from Welsh: verses, plural of penill verse, stanza

Example Sentences

He had put his name down for the "penillion" contest; should he prove successful, not he himself only, but Llanyglo also, the place of his birth, would be forever famous.

From Project Gutenberg

Two days later he was proclaimed the victor in the "penillion" contest, and on the day after that, still drunk with song, he drove his road-engine again.

From Project Gutenberg

He could talk pleasantly to June and be thinking of something else all the time; but he could hardly have asked Ynys Lovell how her mother was getting on with her chair-mending and fortune-telling, or have told her that he had heard that her kinsman Dafydd Dafis had won the "penillion" contest at the Eisteddfod....

From Project Gutenberg

More than that, he sang penillion; and as penillion—which is an extempore form of song into which you may plunge at any point you please, provided you finish pat and triumphant with the double bar—as penillion concerns itself mainly with two themes, namely, the loved mountains and lakes of Cambria, and quick and topical inventions of personal gossip, Dafydd Dafis held his hearers both by their deeper sentiments and their lighter foibles.

From Project Gutenberg

I had my sleep, however; and when I awoke and re-entered the house, a merry group of guests had surrounded the harper in the hall, and were singing Penillion at full stretch, to the now unsteady and somewhat discordant accompaniment of the minstrel; the laugh was of course against me, but good-nature, rather than contempt, characterised the bantering, and I bore it all in good part.

From Project Gutenberg