choral

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin chorālis (“belonging to a chorus or choir”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} formed from chorus (“choir”) with the suffix -ālis.^[2][6] Etymonline, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster also allow a borrowing through French choral,^[7][8][9] but the OED records that French word only once in 1331, in the form coral, and then from 1845.^[2] The Latin noun is from Ancient Greek χορός (khorós, “round dance, band of dancers, chorus”),^[2][7] and is also the source of the English words chorus and choir.^[2][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to a choir or to singing in a choir: 1530–31, in an Act of Henry VIII, as the OED's revised entry records it.^[2] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster date the word to 1587,^[8][9] and Hoad to the 16th century, in the sense "of a choir".^[11]

Semantic evolution

From "of a church choir" the word spread to music composed for or sung by a choir, recorded from 1667 in Milton's Paradise Lost,^[2] and in literary use to those forming a choir or engaged in singing (before 1711).^[2] Hoad dates the sense "of a chorus" to the 17th century.^[11] It was used from 1752 of the odes sung by the chorus of a Greek play,^[2] and since 1812 it has also described recitation by a group in unison, as in choral speaking.^[2][3] Johnson (1755) gave "belonging to a choir" and "singing in a choir", quoting Milton's choral symphonies.^[12] A rare verb choral, to sing in chorus, appears in 1825.^[2]

Timeline

• 1530 – of or relating to a choir.^[2] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster date the word to 1587.^[8][9]
• 1667 – of music, composed for or sung by a choir.^[2]
• before 1711 – forming a chorus; singing.^[2]
• 1752 – of an ode sung by the chorus of a Greek play.^[2]
• 1812 – of recitation by a group in unison.^[2]
• 1825 – verb, to sing in chorus (rare).^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to, or sung by a choir or chorus: The town has a strong choral tradition.^[13][9][2]
2. Written for voices rather than instruments, or including a part for a chorus: a choral setting of the psalm.^[9][7][2]
3. Spoken by a group in unison.^[2][3]
4. Of or relating to the chorus of an ancient Greek play.^[2][3]

Word family

• chorally
• vicar choral

Related words

• chorus
• choir
• chorale
• choric
• choreography

Usage notes

Choral is also a variant spelling of the noun chorale, a hymn tune;^[13] that word comes from German Choral, short for Choralgesang, a translation of Medieval Latin cantus chorālis (“choral song”).^[11][10]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins