chœur French · revision 15998

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1120, Cambridge Psalter|origins=grc χορός}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kœʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''chœur''' ''m'' (plural chœurs)^(Wiktionary)

+ [[fro|cuer]] (about 1120), ''quer'' (about 1150); ''chore'' and ''chœur'' from 1568, after Latin.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is an adaptation, made at different times, of [[la|chorus|t=dance; band of dancers and singers; chorus of tragedy]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|2, 651b) from [[grc|χορός|tr=khorós|t=dance; dancers; dancing place]];^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Wiktionary calls it semi-learned, a doublet of [[chorus]].^(Wiktionary) Rey hesitates between relating “khoros” to “khôros” “open space” and, through the idea of an enclosure, to “khortos” “courtyard”, from an Indo-European root “*gher-” also behind [[la|hortus|t=garden]].^(DHLF 1992) The sense “part of a church” comes from Christian Latin (Rule of Saint Benedict, 818–819), from the clergy who sang around the altar.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Cambridge Psalter'' (about 1120) has ''li cuers des apostles'', rendering the ''Te Deum'''s ''apostolorum chorus'';^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) the ''Voyage of Saint Brendan'' (about 1120) applies it to birds singing hymns.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ About 1150 (Wace) ''quer'' was the part of a church where the altar stands and the clergy sing, whence ''enfant de chœur'' (1350, ''enfant du cuer''; 1530).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In 1568 the Renaissance took it up again as a term of the ancient theatre (Le Roy's ''chore'') and of modern tragedy (Garnier), as in the choruses of ''Athalie''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ In 1704 it named a piece of music sung by several voices, and later a body of singers (''les chœurs de l'Opéra'').^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) By extension it is a combined sound (''le chœur des oiseaux'', 1846) and a group united in one attitude, whence ''en chœur'' “together” (1869).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1120 – ''Cuer des apostles'' in the ''Cambridge Psalter''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1150 – ''Quer'' “choir of a church”, in Wace.^(TLFi)

+ * 1350 – ''Enfant du cuer''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1568 – The chorus of a tragedy; the spelling ''chœur''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1704 – A choral piece.^(TLFi)

+ * 1869 – ''En chœur''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|choir]], chorus (of singers): ''un chœur d'enfants'', ''chef de chœur''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A chorus, choral piece.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(architecture)'' The choir (of a church); ''enfant de chœur'': altar boy.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(theatre)'' The chorus (of Greek tragedy).^(Wiktionary)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''En chœur'': in chorus, all together.^(DHLF 1992)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[choral]]

+ * [[chorale]]

+ * [[choriste]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[chorus]]

+ * [[chorégraphie]]

+ * [[grc|χορός|tr=khorós]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}