Choir - quire

The two forms choir and quire are, mostly, different spellings of the same word. (For another meaning of one of them, see Quire.) Choir is the usual spelling in current English, although quire is the better representation of the pronunciation of the word in either spelling - IPA: /ˈkwaɪ ə^r/. In either spelling, it means 'a formally arranged group of singers', originally always for church services.

OED (1899) gives the etymology as from the Middle English quer, or quere, which became quyer or quire in a regular change, which can be paralleled in the history of (modern) 'friar' and 'briar'. It adds: "The spoken word is still quire, though since the close of the 17th cent. this has been fictitiously spelt choir, apparently as a partial assimilation to Greek-Latin chorus, or French chœur." (Since this did reflect the ultimate {Greek) derivation chorus, OED's 'fictitious' can only be understood in terms of a preference for the English version, quer, of the immediate source, French cuer). The ultimate origin is the Greek χορὀς‚ (chorus) 'dance', 'company of dancers or singers', through the medieval Latin meaning of 'body of singers in church', 'place for singers in church'. This became cuer in Old French ('choir of a church') and chœur in modern French.

"The spelling quire has never been altered in the English Prayer-book. Some people affect to pronounce choir IPA: /ˈkɔɪ ə(^r/ ['koh-ih-err']" (OED).

• There is a similar, but less common, difference in the spelling of chorister (the usual form) and quirister. In this case, the first represents the current pronunciation, 'CORR-ist-er', IPA: /ˈkɒr ɪst ə^r/. ("The older pronunciation 'KWIRR-ist-er' IPA: /ˈkwɪr ɪst ə^r/, came down to the nineteenth century" (OED).) In the USA, chorister is sometimes used to mean the chief singer in a choir composed of singers.

Some cathedrals, such as York Minster, Westminster Abbey and Wells Cathedral and churches such as St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, retain the older spelling quire as the name of the area of the church (between the nave and the altar) where the choir (singers) and officiating clergy have seats during services. Durham Cathedral distinguishes between the two aspellings, noting on its webasite (https://www.durhamworldheritagesite.com/architecture/cathedral/intro/quire): "The Quire (as distinct from the Choir) is an area of the church often referred to as a “chancel” (AWE's emphasis).