tintinnabulation

English

WOTD – 18 March 2006

Noun of action from tintinnabulate, from Latin tintinnabulum (“a bell”), from tintinō, a reduplicated form of tinniō (“ring, jingle”).

tintinnabulation (countable and uncountable, plural tintinnabulations)

A tinkling sound, as of a bell or of breaking glass.
- 1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 20
  Across the darkling meadows, from the heights of Hare, the tintinnabulation sounded mournfully, penetrating the curl-wreathed tympanums of Lady Parvula de Panzoust.
The ringing of bells.
- 1849, Edgar Allan Poe, The Bells
  Keeping time, time, time,
  In a sort of Runic rhyme,
  To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
  From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
  Bells, bells, bells —
  From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

tinkling sound