caucus（n.）
“Caucus”（党派领袖或当地选民的私人会议）起源于1763年的美国英语（新英格兰），可能来自弗吉尼亚方言中的阿尔冈昆语单词 caucauasu “顾问，长老，顾问”，或来自波士顿的 Caucus 俱乐部，这是一个在1760年代成立的社交和政治俱乐部，其名称可能源自现代希腊语 kaukos “饮杯”。另一个旧的猜测是 caulker's (meeting) [Pickering, 1816]，但 OED 和 Century Dictionary 认为这个猜测是可以被驳回的。
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”这个名词在美国各地都被用作一个 cant 术语，用于描述不同政治党派为了商定候选人或协商他们打算在随后的 public 或 town 会议上采取的任何措施而举行的会议。[约翰·皮克林，“美国独特词汇或短语的词汇表”，波士顿，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”这个词及其派生词“caucusing”在波士顿经常被使用。后者很像我们所说的议会或选举。我多次向不同的绅士提出问题，但没有一个人能给我一个令人满意的 caucus 起源的解释。它似乎意味着一些人，无论多少人，聚在一起商量采取和执行某些政策方案，以实现一个喜欢的目标。[威廉·戈登，“美国独立的历史，崛起，进展和建立”，伦敦，1788年]
该词起源时间：1763年