Etymology of Carole

Middle Ages / Medieval Period 5th to 15th centuries (400 to 1499 AD)

The most documented form of dance during the Middle Ages is the carol also called the "carole" or "carola" and known from the 12th and 13th centuries in Western Europe in rural and court settings

The word carol is derived from the Old French word carole, a circle dance accompanied by singers (in turn derived from the Latin choraula). Carols were very popular as dance songs from the 1150s to the 1350s, after which their use expanded as processional songs sung during festivals, while others were written to accompany religious mystery plays (such as the Coventry Carol, written before 1534)  -  W. J. Phillips, Carols; Their Origin, Music, and Connection with Mystery-Plays (Routledge, 1921, Read Books, 2008), p. 24.

FROM ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANICA:

Carole, medieval European dance in a ring, chain, or linked circle, performed to the singing of the dancers. An indefinite number of persons participated, linking arms and following the step of the leader. The origins of the carole are in ancient ring dances of May and midsummer festivals and, more remotely, in the ancient Greek choros, or circular, sung dance. Mentioned as early as the 7th century, the carole spread throughout Europe by the 12th century and declined during the 14th century.

There is good evidence that caroles were danced to ballads. Many ballad refrains suggest dance movements (e.g., “bow-down, bow-down”). A relic of medieval Danish caroling survives in the circular ballad dances of the Faeroe Islands. The medieval French word carole (Medieval Latin: chorea; Middle High German: reigen) referred only to sung chain and ring dances; danse (Medieval Latin: ballatio; Middle High German: tanz) indicated a couple dance with instrumental accompaniment.

Chain dances of common origin with the carole and danced in serpentine chains, linked circles, or straight lines to singing or instrumental music persist in the 20th century in the Balkans (e.g., the Romanian hora, Serbo-Croatian kolo, Bulgarian horo, and Greek syrtos) and elsewhere (the farandole and carmagnole of France; the Catalonian sardana). In modern Switzerland a few coraules survive; they begin as a chain and end with couples dancing. Choros in modern Greek still means a circular dance. The branle, danced in the late European Middle Ages, derived from the carole. Some authorities believe that country dancing, with its lines or circles of couples, also derives from the carole.

https://www.britannica.com/art/carole

GREEK ETYMOLOGY

(from The Carole: A Study of a Medieval Dance By Robert Mullally)

Diefenbach 1857 "Glossarium Latino-Germanicum Mediae et Infimae Aetatis"

The Old French Carole is ultimately derived from the Greek noun (one who accompanies a chorus in the aulos)  From this came the Latin form choraula and thence carole.

EARLIEST CITATION OF THE WORD "CAROLE"

The earliest citation was in the form chorolla found in an account of the legend of the dancers of Kolbigk.  This is the tale of a supposed miracle that took place in Saxony in the 11th century.  It relates how a group of men and women who, in spite of protests of the priest, persisted in dancing around a churchyard while Mass was being celebrated on Christmas Eve, and were consequently condemned to continue their dance for a whole  year.

Etymology of Carole

Middle Ages / Medieval Period 5th to 15th centuries (400 to 1499 AD)

The most documented form of dance during the Middle Ages is the carol also called the "carole" or "carola" and known from the 12th and 13th centuries in Western Europe in rural and court settings

The word carol is derived from the Old French word carole, a circle dance accompanied by singers (in turn derived from the Latin choraula). Carols were very popular as dance songs from the 1150s to the 1350s, after which their use expanded as processional songs sung during festivals, while others were written to accompany religious mystery plays (such as the Coventry Carol, written before 1534)  -  W. J. Phillips, Carols; Their Origin, Music, and Connection with Mystery-Plays (Routledge, 1921, Read Books, 2008), p. 24.

FROM ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANICA:

Carole, medieval European dance in a ring, chain, or linked circle, performed to the singing of the dancers. An indefinite number of persons participated, linking arms and following the step of the leader. The origins of the carole are in ancient ring dances of May and midsummer festivals and, more remotely, in the ancient Greek choros, or circular, sung dance. Mentioned as early as the 7th century, the carole spread throughout Europe by the 12th century and declined during the 14th century.

There is good evidence that caroles were danced to ballads. Many ballad refrains suggest dance movements (e.g., “bow-down, bow-down”). A relic of medieval Danish caroling survives in the circular ballad dances of the Faeroe Islands. The medieval French word carole (Medieval Latin: chorea; Middle High German: reigen) referred only to sung chain and ring dances; danse (Medieval Latin: ballatio; Middle High German: tanz) indicated a couple dance with instrumental accompaniment.

Chain dances of common origin with the carole and danced in serpentine chains, linked circles, or straight lines to singing or instrumental music persist in the 20th century in the Balkans (e.g., the Romanian hora, Serbo-Croatian kolo, Bulgarian horo, and Greek syrtos) and elsewhere (the farandole and carmagnole of France; the Catalonian sardana). In modern Switzerland a few coraules survive; they begin as a chain and end with couples dancing. Choros in modern Greek still means a circular dance. The branle, danced in the late European Middle Ages, derived from the carole. Some authorities believe that country dancing, with its lines or circles of couples, also derives from the carole.

https://www.britannica.com/art/carole

GREEK ETYMOLOGY

(from The Carole: A Study of a Medieval Dance By Robert Mullally)

Diefenbach 1857 "Glossarium Latino-Germanicum Mediae et Infimae Aetatis"

The Old French Carole is ultimately derived from the Greek noun (one who accompanies a chorus in the aulos)  From this came the Latin form choraula and thence carole.

EARLIEST CITATION OF THE WORD "CAROLE"

The earliest citation was in the form chorolla found in an account of the legend of the dancers of Kolbigk.  This is the tale of a supposed miracle that took place in Saxony in the 11th century.  It relates how a group of men and women who, in spite of protests of the priest, persisted in dancing around a churchyard while Mass was being celebrated on Christmas Eve, and were consequently condemned to continue their dance for a whole  year.

How did medieval people dance?

When trying to understand the Middle Ages it is sometimes the aspects of daily life that are most difficult to research. Few writers from the period left detailed descriptions of the games they played or what they did to entertain themselves.

For example, historians have known that medieval people enjoyed dancing, but they did not know exactly how they danced. A recent book by Robert Mullally is answering a part of this question, detailing one of the most popular dances of the Middle Ages.

In his book, The Carole: A Study of a Medieval Dance, Mullally pieces together a wide variety of literary sources that mention the Carole, one of the main dances of Western Europe in the 12th and 14th centuries. He reveals that it was a relatively simple dance done by men and women together: to do the carole, a group of people, usually an even number of both men and women, would form a circle, sometimes around an object like a tree. They would each hold hands (sometimes they would hold each other by their fingers) in this circle and move to the left (in a clockwise direction). By moving sideways to the left, the dancers would start their step with their left foot, and then join the right foot to the left. The sources often describe it as the right foot striking against the other. It was considered an elegant and graceful manoeuvre. The various sources never mention any other kind of moves with the Carole. Mullally adds, “the very simplicity of the dance explains why no written choreography or dance manual was required.”

The music of the Carole would be sung by the dancers themselves. Usually it would be one of the dancers, or a small group of them, who would begin the singing. After a few songs, they would give way to another dancer, who would then sing while the group continued their dance, and so on. Some sources talk about those dancing the carole would be able to go on for hours (one imagines that some people would leave or join the circle as the dance went on).

There were many different songs that could be sung for the carole, but we only have a few examples of their lyrics. They include:

1) “You do not go the way I do, nor would you go that way.” (Vous n’a les mie tout en si que je fais. Ne vous, ne vous n’i saries aler, Ne vous, ne vous n’i saries aler.

2) “Love me, my sweet blonde, love me, and I shall not love anyone but you.” (Amez moi, blondete amez / Et je n’amerai se vos non!)

3) “If I have great joy in my heart, do not ask whence it comes! Galyenne, my sweet sister, if I have joy in my heart, I do not want anyone at all to know about it! That I love with all my heart, you know full well. If I have joy in my heart, [do not ask whence it comes!]

Se j’ai grant joie enz enz mon cuer
Ne demandez dont elle vient!
Gallyennne, tres douce suer,
Se j’ai grant joie ens enz mon cuer
Ne veul que nuls en sache fuer!
Que j’iang du cuer vous saves bien.
Se j’ai grant joie enz enz mon cuer
[Ne demandez dont elle vient!]

While a few descriptions of a carole also involved an instrument accompanying the music, such as a drum or horn, for the most part instrumental music would be used with other types of dances, such as the hove danse.

Here is a video of a Carole dance:

For about three centuries the carole remained a popular dance with all segments of society, from nobility to the peasants. Not everyone was happy with this dance, however, as a few religious moralists bitterly complained about it (their writings also offer some of the best descriptions of these dances). Jacques de Vitry, a French theologian from the 13th century, said that the dance “is a circle whose centre is the Devil, and in it all turn to the left, because all are heading towards everlasting death. When foot is pressed to foot or the hand of the woman is touched by the hand of a man, there the fire of the Devil is kindled.” Meanwhile, the author of the Mireour du mondefound that “all those men and women who carole sin in every member of their bodies by turning elegantly and by moving and shaking their arms, by singing, and by speaking dishonourably.”

The Carole: A Study of a Medieval Dance was published by Ashgate in 2011