caucus 的詞源

“Caucus”（黨派領袖或當地選民的私人會議）起源於1763年的美國英語（新英格蘭），可能來自弗吉尼亞方言中的阿爾岡昆語單詞 caucauasu “顧問，長老，顧問”，或來自波士頓的 Caucus 俱樂部，這是一個在1760年代成立的社交和政治俱樂部，其名稱可能源自現代希臘語 kaukos “飲杯”。另一箇舊的猜測是 caulker's (meeting) [Pickering, 1816]，但 OED 和 Century Dictionary 認爲這個猜測是可以被駁回的。

CAUCUS. This noun is used throughout the United States, as a cant term for those meetings, which are held by the different political parties, for the purpose of agreeing upon candidates for office, or concerting any measure, which they intend to carry at the subsequent public, or town meetings. [John Pickering, "A Vocabulary, or Collection of Words and Phrases Which Have Been Supposed to be Peculiar to the United States of America," Boston, 1816]

“Caucus”這個名詞在美國各地都被用作一個 cant 術語，用於描述不同政治黨派爲了商定候選人或協商他們打算在隨後的 public 或 town 會議上採取的任何措施而舉行的會議。[約翰·皮克林，“美國獨特詞彙或短語的詞彙表”，波士頓，1816年]

The word caucus, and its derivative caucusing, are often used in Boston. The last answers much to what we stile parliamenteering or electioneering. All my repeated applications to different gentlemen have not furnished me with a satisfactory account of the origin of caucus. It seems to mean, a number of persons, whether more or less, met together to consult upon adopting and prosecuting some scheme of policy, for carrying a favorite point. [William Gordon, "History, Rise, Progress, and Establishment of the Independence of the United States of America," London, 1788]

“Caucus”這個詞及其派生詞“caucusing”在波士頓經常被使用。後者很像我們所說的議會或選舉。我多次向不同的紳士提出問題，但沒有一個人能給我一個令人滿意的 caucus 起源的解釋。它似乎意味着一些人，無論多少人，聚在一起商量採取和執行某些政策方案，以實現一個喜歡的目標。[威廉·戈登，“美國獨立的歷史，崛起，進展和建立”，倫敦，1788年]

"在祕密會議中會面或商議"，1850年，來自 caucus（n.），但 caucusing 可追溯至1788年。