Eval("quire".replace(/^/,"re"))(moduleName)

Presumeably (not my language) it frames "require ModuleName" as some thing that can be tested for whether it would evaluate.

Therefore a failure in evaluation is not the same as a failure of something "required" because it cannot be found.

It's a curious kind of hackity hack often seen (in various forms) to roughly spack fill some other deeper issue.