modinhan.
/məˈdiːnjə/, /mɒˈdiːnjə/, U.S. /məˈdinjə/, /mɑˈdinjə/ Music.
A lyrical song of a type popular in Portugal and Brazil from the 18th cent., originally quite simple in character but later acquiring a more elaborate musical form similar to that of an Italian operatic aria.
ΚΠ
1787 W. Beckford Portuguese Jrnl. 7 June (1954) 69 Brazilian modinhas... An original sort of music different from any I ever heard, the most seducing, the most voluptuous imaginable.
1835 J. E. Alexander Sketches in Portugal iii. 69 I was highly pleased with the Portuguese modinhas, or love-songs.
1938 Oxf. Compan. Music 589/1 Modinha, a type of song popular in Portugal—not a folk song but a sort of composed song which has been popular from the eighteenth century onwards.
1979 Early Music 7 557/3 (advt.) One of the rare sources of instrumental pedagogy in the Iberian Peninsula, it contains minuets and modinhas in the practical part.
1991 P. Sweeney Virgin Directory World Music 234 The earliest national popular genres of Brazil were the African-based lundu..and the modinha which was modelled on Portuguese and Italian song.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2002; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1787