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May 17, 2005
Useless Factoid of the Day #9: Etymology of Ku Klux Klan
Being as I am into names and all, I was somewhat intrigued by a certain white supremacist organization's choice of name, the Ku Klux Klan.
For having been created in an overwhelmingly English-speaking America, it doesn't sound even remotely like English. I had read in my copy of World Book Encyclopedia nearly 10 years ago that the words Ku Klux Klan resembled the cocking of a gun, an argument I sorely disbelieved even though it came from an apparently authoritative source.
In Levitt&Dubner's Freakonomics, I found an explanation that better suits my tastes. The founders of the KKK chose the Greek word for circle, kuklos, and corrupted it slightly to arrive at kuklux. Then they added a Klan for good measure, because several of their early members were of Irish, Scottish or generally Gaelic descent.
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Posted by Vishy at May 17, 2005 08:07 PM