Plural Of Caucus?

[David Amicus]

Shouldn't it be Cauci? The media is saying caucuses.

[Evertjan.]

David Amicus <davida...@gmail.com> wrote on 01 Feb 2016 in
alt.language.latin:

> Shouldn't it be Cauci? The media is saying caucuses.

That is an American/Canadian word.
I don't think American media are a good source of such things.

It is NOT from Latin,
but probably from the Algonquian words
"cawaassough" or "caucauasu" [counselor, elder, adviser]

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algonquian_languages>

So while trying to make a latin word for it is just acceptable,
asking us what the right plural is, is not very practical.

========================================

The Latin word "Caucus"
from the Greek "Kaukos" [= a drinking vessel, lover]
modern Greek "Kafkos","Kafkion" <https://youtu.be/O5eqXqZ0Gzg>
has nothing to do with it.

--
Evertjan.
The Netherlands.
(Please change the x'es to dots in my emailaddress)

[Will Parsons]

On Monday, 1 Feb 2016 5:36 PM -0500, David Amicus wrote:
> Shouldn't it be Cauci? The media is saying caucuses.

It isn't Latin.

--
Will

[David Amicus]

Thanks all! I thought it was Latin or maybe Greek

[Ed Cryer]

David Amicus wrote:
> Thanks all! I thought it was Latin or maybe Greek
>

It's native N American; Algonquin or Iroquois.
It sounds nice to me, but not as nice as "chautauqua".

Ed

[Evertjan.]

Ed Cryer <e...@somewhere.in.the.uk> wrote on 02 Feb 2016 in
alt.language.latin:

> David Amicus wrote:
>> Thanks all! I thought it was Latin or maybe Greek
>
> It's native N American; Algonquin or Iroquois.

Indeed.

Such a word must be unknown to the Queen's English,
but is it?

What about Alice?

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1866) by Lewis Carroll
Chapter 3: "A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale"

<https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland_
(1866)/Chapter_3>

========================

Caulkers?

"Great Leaders and National Issues" of 1896: "In the early part of the
eighteenth century a number of caulkers connected with the shipping business
in the North End of Boston held a meeting for consultation. That meeting was
the germ of the political caucuses which have formed so prominent a feature
of our government ever since its organization."

"American Heritage Dictionary states the term [caucus] is taken from the
Caucus Club of Boston in the 1760s, possibly derived from Medieval Latin
caucus, drinking vessel."

caulker (plural caulkers)
= A person who caulks various structures (as ships)
and certain types of piping
= A tool used for caulking ships; a caulking iron

[B. T. Raven]

So in Latin it would have to be caucus / factio hominum politicorum;
conventus factiosi, factionalis; caucus -ūs (4th declension because
there already is 2nd decl. caucus -i : drinking vessel.

Eduardus

[John W Kennedy]

That is not, as far as I know, certainly established, though it seems
probable. The word does appear first in New England, and John Smith
records its likely ancestor.


--
John W Kennedy
"Give up vows and dogmas, and fixed things, and you may grow like That.
...you may come to think a blow bad, because it hurts, and not because
it humiliates. You may come to think murder wrong, because it is
violent, and not because it is unjust."
-- G. K. Chesterton. "The Ball and the Cross"

[David Amicus]

I found this

http://latin.cactus2000.de/noun/shownoun_en.php?n=caucus

[Evertjan.]

David Amicus <davida...@gmail.com> wrote on 03 Feb 2016 in
alt.language.latin:

> I found this
>
> http://latin.cactus2000.de/noun/shownoun_en.php?n=caucus

Which does not influence a non-connected American-Indian word plural.

Unless of course the American voters swim circles in drinking vessels,
which should not amaze me seen from this side of the pond.

[Ed Cryer]

Evertjan. wrote:
> David Amicus <davida...@gmail.com> wrote on 03 Feb 2016 in
> alt.language.latin:
>
>> I found this
>>
>> http://latin.cactus2000.de/noun/shownoun_en.php?n=caucus
>
> Which does not influence a non-connected American-Indian word plural.
>
> Unless of course the American voters swim circles in drinking vessels,
> which should not amaze me seen from this side of the pond.
>

"The American Heritage Dictionary suggests that it possibly derived from
medieval Latin caucus, meaning "drinking vessel",[5] such as might have
been used for the flip drunk at Caucus Club of colonial Boston."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucus

Ah, ah. That seems very USA. Their civil war is ancient history in their
terms, and oh!, how they love to acquire intellectual status for their
customs.

Ed

P.S. I love the USA.
I love their marching and parading razamataz.
Mens sana in corpore sano.