chorus

Forms

chorus m (genitive chorī); second declension^[1] The Culex has the Greek accusative plural chorūs.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek χορός (khorós, “dance; band of dancers”).^[2][1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An unknown comic poet asks why they hesitate to start cheerful dances, and Accius uses it of a choral passage in a play.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a dance with song, a choral dance, and Manilius applies it to the dance of the stars.^[2][5] It is a choral passage in a play, and the performers of a chorus: Horace bids the chorus play an actor's part, Virgil has the Salii in two choirs of young and old, and the Muses, nymphs and stars form choirs.^[2] It is also a band of revellers, as Cicero's whole chorus of Antony's carousals, a group of companions, as Horace's band of girls, and a school: Cicero says Epicurus has been almost removed from the chorus of philosophers.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “choir, singing, sanctuary, those in the sanctuary”.^[6] In Medieval Latin it is a body of religious singers, a chapter of canons and the choir of a church.^[7] English choir (c. 1300, through Old French) and chorus (1560s) come from it.^[4]

Timeline

• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius of a choral passage.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of revellers and of a school of philosophers.^[2][3]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of choirs of the Salii.^[2][3]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of the chorus of a play.^[2][3]
• c. 1300 – English choir.^[4]
• 1560s – English chorus.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dance with singing, choral dance.^[2][1][5]
2. A choral passage (in a play).^[2]
3. A chorus, choir (of performers, Muses, nymphs, stars).^[2][1]
4. A band, company; a school (of philosophers).^[2]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A choir; the sanctuary.^[6]
6. (Medieval Latin) A chapter of canons; the choir of a church.^[7]

Word family

• choricus

Related words

• chorēa
• English choir
• English chorus

Usage notes

Medieval Latin chorus as a dry measure is a spelling of corus.^[7]

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 m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill