caucus 的词源

“政党领袖或地方选民的私下会议”，这个词最早出现在1763年，属于美式英语（新英格兰地区）。它可能源自阿尔冈昆语中的一个词 caucauasu，意为“顾问、长者、辅导员”，这个词在弗吉尼亚州的方言中使用。另一个可能的来源是波士顿的 Caucus Club，这是一个成立于1760年代的社交和政治俱乐部，其名称可能源自现代希腊语中的 kaukos，意为“饮酒杯”。还有一种较早的说法是 caulker's (meeting)（“木匠会议”）[Pickering, 1816]，但《牛津英语词典》和《世纪词典》认为这个解释不太可信。

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。这个名词在美国各地使用，作为一个行话，指的是不同政党举行的会议，目的是为了商定候选人，或策划他们打算在随后的 public 或 town 会议上推动的任何措施。[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]

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]

在波士顿，caucus 及其衍生词 caucusing 经常被使用。后者在某种程度上类似于我们所称的议会活动或竞选活动。我向不同的人反复询问，但始终没有得到令人满意的解释来说明 caucus 的起源。这个词似乎指的是一群人，无论人数多少，聚在一起商讨如何采取某种政策，以推动他们所支持的议题。[William Gordon, "History, Rise, Progress, and Establishment of the Independence of the United States of America," London, 1788]

“在会议上会面或协商”，这个意思出现在1850年，来源于 caucus（名词），不过 caucusing 这个词早在1788年就有记录了。