Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Indigenous languages ·1760s
Caucus
from caucauasu
- Meaning
- A closed meeting of members of a political party.
- Source word
- caucauasu
- Route into English
- Possibly from Algonquian *caucauasu* (counsellor, adviser) → Boston English by the 1760s, used of political clubs → standardised US political term. Some etymologists dispute the Algonquian origin.
- Arrived
- 1760s
From Indigenous languages
A loose group: Nahuatl, Taino, Algonquian, Guugu Yimithirr, and others. Colonial contact produced many loans; the speakers were often systematically dispossessed of the land the loanwords described.
English borrows.
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