Troyl is a colloquial Cornish word meaning a

barn dance A barn dance is any kind of dance involving traditional or folk music with traditional dancing, occasionally held in a barn, but, these days, much more likely to be in any suitable building. The term “barn dance” is usually associated w ...

or céilidh, a social evening of dance, music and song.

Etymology

Edward Lluyd Edward Lhuyd FRS (; occasionally written Llwyd in line with modern Welsh orthography, 1660 – 30 June 1709) was a Welsh naturalist, botanist, linguist, geographer and antiquary. He is also named in a Latinate form as Eduardus Luidius. Life ...

(1660?–1709) knew the Cornish verb ' - to twist, twirl, whirl, spin round. Edward Veale of Pentire,

Newquay Newquay ( ; kw, Tewynblustri) is a town on the north coast in Cornwall, in the south west of England. It is a civil parish, seaside resort, regional centre for aerospace industries, spaceport and a fishing port on the North Atlantic coast of ...

used the noun ''troil'' in the 1880s to describe a Cornish céilidh in

.Davey, M. ''Hengan'' (Dyllansow Truran, 1983) 51–53 & 57

Robert Morton Nance Robert Morton Nance (1873–1959) was a British writer and leading authority on the Cornish language, a nautical archaeologist, and joint founder of the Old Cornwall Society. Nance wrote many books and pamphlets on the Cornish language, inclu ...

collected the noun ''troyl'' in the 1920s. He classified the word as a 'Cornish dialect survival', and knew the similar Welsh noun which has the same

Brittonic Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to: *Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain *Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic *Britons (Celtic people) The Br ...

root. "Troyll" appeared in

's 1938 Cornish English dictionary with the meanings - circuit, spiral, spin, turn and lathe. Since the Cornish Dance Revival of the 1980s the noun ''Troyl'' has been consistently used to denote a Cornish céilidh.Davey, A. et al. (1992) ''Corollyn''. Truro

19th century troyls

Speaking of social life associated with the fish cellars in

in the late 19th century, Edward Veale related that "A dance or 'troil' ... always terminated the

pilchard "Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, a folk etymology says it comes from the ...

season. This was a feast for those connected with the cellars, each cellar having its own troil. After the feast, which was given in the loft, games and dancing followed. These were kept up until the small hours of the morning, the music being provided by a fiddler." Such Troils were also noted by Sarah Teague Husband and Edgar Rees, writing of 19th century Newquay. Veale also remembered seeing the step dance, Lattapuch, in the Unity Fish Cellars, Newquay, in the 1880s, and dancing the Lancers. It seems clear that social dancing, step dancing - sometimes competitive, music and song were involved. Such events occurred on the completion of a particularly successful catch and at the end of the pilchard season.M. J. O'Connor. ''Ilow Kernow 3'' (Wadebridge, 2005)

Troyls of the Cornish Dance Revival

Since 1980 Troyls have been staged with increasing frequency since the collection of a core repertoire of dances by Merv and Alison Davey, and the writing of numbers of modern folk dances in Cornish style by enthusiasts from several

Cornish dance Cornish dance ( kw, Donsyow kernewek) originates from Cornwall, UK. It has largely been shaped by the Cornish people and the industries they worked in. In most cases, particularly with the step dancing, the dances were still being performed across ...

groups. The core repertoire has now been published in a book/tape/videotape package, and other DVDs and books are progressively becoming available. A typical Troyl has a mixture of social (public dances), usually "called" to assist the less experienced. Most will be set dances, but as were once found in Cornwall, and processional dances (furrys) survive to this day, so various rondes and farandoles are also danced. Between such items there will often be demonstration dances,

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

, song, step-dancing, or storytelling (droll telling).

References

External links

Catalogue of Cornish dances
Cornish culture Celtic music festivals

Etymology

19th century troyls

Troyls of the Cornish Dance Revival

See also

References

External links