ABSTRACT
The most significant statement to date about the earliest occurrence of the term carole was made by Verrier. He claimed that 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 second decade of the eleventh century. Chorolla is not a form of carole, as Verrier claimed, but a diminutive of chorus. Neither it is an intermediary Latin form in the development of the etymology of carole. The term carole appeared in the first half of the twelfth century and throughout the rest of that century is found mainly in biblical translations. A notable exception is Wace's translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth. In this translation, and in works derived from it in one way or another, the word chorea is translated as carole and is applied to Stonehenge.
