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Dinas

Historical Location
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A Welsh place-name; here it refers to the hillfort or castle site in the poem's title. It is not a common English word, so readers may need to identify it.

Detailed Definition
Dinas is a Welsh toponym meaning a fort or city in place-names, and in this poem it points to Dinas Bran, the ruined hillfort associated with the Fisher King legend. The name carries local and historical resonance rather than ordinary dictionary meaning.
Example
Example in poetry:
“On a hilltop crowned with crows, Dinas Bran, a castle old” (place-name usage); “Dinas Bran’s broken towers” (Welsh historical setting); “Above Llangollen, Dinas Bran keeps watch” (geographical context); “The ruined Welsh fortress darkened against the sky” (evocative paraphrase)
Additional Notes
The quoted line uses the place-name “Dinas,” which most readers would not recognize without looking it up.; Found in the poem, The Fisher King of Dinas Bran by Richard
Also Known As
Fortress Citadel Hilltop
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