Can Old French caroler Be of Celtic Orgin?

Abstract

In LANGUAGE 4. 28-30, Prof. U. T. Holmes tries to show that some native Celtic word must have had some part in the etymology of caroler 'to dance a round dance'. He refers to a Welsh coroli 'to move in a circle' and to a Welsh corol (or corawl) 'circular'. But I doubt whether sufficient authority can be found for either of these words. It is true that Owen Pughe mentions a Welsh coroli 'to move in a circle; to dance; to caper', and that he derives this word from the adjective corawl. But every Welsh scholar knows that Pughe is absolutely untrustworthy, and that he often invented the words he adduces. Silvan Evans, the author of our largest Welsh Dictionary (1887), is unable to to give any other reference for the word but Pughe. And, therefore, the critical dictionary of Anwyl (1914) has dropped the word altogether. There is certainly no authority for the other Welsh word which Prof. Holmes adduces: corol 'circular'. There is a Welsh adjective corawl, but this never occurs in the meaning of 'circular'; it means only 'choral', as in Welsh gwasanaeth corawl 'choral service' and gwyl gorawl 'a choral festival'. Both form and meaning of this word make it clear that it is a borrowing from medieval Latin choralis 'belonging to a choir; sung by a choir'. It cannot possibly be derived from Welsh car 'circle',1 as Prof. Holmes seems to assume. So the assumed, but non-existent Welsh corol 'circular' and coroli will hardly give any support to a theory of a Celtic parentage of OF caroler. There are, however, some Celtic words which may be connected with OF carole, viz. Modern Welsh carol 'a song' and caroli 'to sing', Old Cornish carol 'a choir', Middle Welsh corelw 'a dance' and corelwi 'to dance', Modern Breton (Vann. and Corn.) koroll 'a dance' (Middle