χορεία

Forms

χορείᾱ (khoreíā) f (genitive χορείᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek χορεύω (khoreúō, “to dance in a chorus”), with the suffix -εία (-eíā),^[2] the verb being from Ancient Greek χορός (khorós, “dance; chorus”).^[2][1] Wiktionary and Πάπυρος derive it directly from the noun with the suffix.^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is a fragment of Pratinas: ἄκουε τὰν ἐμὰν Δώριον χορείαν, “hear my Dorian dance-song”.^[4][2][5]

Semantic evolution

In the 5th century BC it was the choral dance with music: Euripides has it once in the plural, the only use in tragedy apart from Chaeremon, and Aristophanes speaks of its rhythm and of a dance in a circle.^[4][2] Plato's Laws define it as dance and song together and treat the whole choral art as the whole of education.^[4][2]

The Epinomis uses it of the circling motion of the stars, and Philo of the dances of the planets and the fixed stars.^[4] Plutarch uses it for dancing in general.^[2] The Book of Judith uses it for a choral dance, and Coptic borrowed it by about AD 600.^[6][7]

It was borrowed into Latin chorea.^[8] The Modern Latin phrase for St Vitus's dance gave English chorea, a nervous disease, in 1806.^[9] Modern Greek has two learned words: Modern Greek χορεία (choreía), from Hellenistic Greek, for a company of angels, saints or other distinguished people, and a medical term, a reborrowing through French chorée, first recorded in 1897.^[10][11][3]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Pratinas uses it for a dance-song.^[4][2][12]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it, in the plural, for dances.^[4][12]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it for choral dance in a circle, and Plato in the Laws for dance and song together.^[4][2][12]
• 1st century BC to 1st century AD – Philo speaks of the dances of the planets and the fixed stars.^[4][12]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for dancing in general.^[2][12]
• About AD 600 – Sahidic Coptic texts borrow it.^[7]
• 1806 – English chorea is first recorded as the name of a nervous disease.^[9]
• 1897 – Vlachos's Greek–French dictionary records the medical sense in Modern Greek.^[3]
• Modern Greek – χορεία (choreía) is a learned word for a company of angels or saints, and a medical term.^[10][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A choral dance with music; choral singing and dancing as an art.^[4][2]
2. Dancing in general.^[2]
3. Any circling motion, as of the stars.^[4]
4. A dance-tune; a song sung by a chorus.^[4][2]

Related words

• χορός (khorós)
• χορεύω (khoreúō)
• Latin chorea
• English chorea

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
7. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
8. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b Ακαδημία Αθηνών (2014), Χρηστικό Λεξικό της Νεοελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Academy of Athens
12. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge