Art & MusicGreek → English
Carol
/ˈkærəl/noun
A festive song, now chiefly one sung at Christmas.
The Greek roots
χοραύλης
choraúlēs
flute-player for a chorus
Literally: “chorus piper”
Follow a root:χοραύλης1 word
The story of the word
Middle English took carol from Old French carole, a ring dance with singing, and there the trail forks. One line of scholars derives carole from Late Latin choraula, the piper who played for a chorus, which would make the word Greek; another argues for Latin corolla, a little ring, matching the shape of the dance. Neither has won. What is certain is that the earliest carols were danced, not sat through.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek (disputed) → Late Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 13th century
Same family
choruschoirchoral
In a sentence
They sang carols outside the hospital in the rain.