The origin of this etymology is difficult. It may have been extrapolated from an etymology proposed for the compound χορηγός "chorege", understood as "the one who leads by the hand" (Etym. Gudianum, chi, p. 568: Χορηγός: Παρὰ τὸ χεὶρ χερὸς καὶ τὸ ἄγω γίνεται *χερηγός· καὶ τροπῇ τοῦ ε εἰς ο, χορηγὸς, ὁ διὰ χειρὸς ἄγων; = Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 813). Then a formal manipulation is required, change of the [e] into [o] according to the familiar alternation found in λέγω ~ λόγος. However, that implies starting from the poetic stem χερ- (which is explicit in Choeroboscus), not from the regular Ionic-Attic stem χειρ-. The etymology would then have been applied to the simple word χορός. Alternatively, it may have been abstracted from a different etymology proposed for χορός explained through a metathesis from *ὀρχός "dance" (see χορός / ὀρχέομαι), the latter explained as a compound χείρ + ὀγέγω