Caucus

Well, this is a complex word. 

A caucus can be a private meeting of members of a political party to choose candidates or determine policy.  

A caucus can also refer to a group of people within an organization.  This group influences through legislation.  The Women’s Caucus, for example.

Caucus can also act as a verb meaning to meet in a caucus. 

For example: Pending further discussion, the meeting was caucused.  

I really thought caucus was a Latin word.  I mean, look at it.  It sounds like a Latin word.  It looks like a Latin word.  Like so many Latin words, it hangs out in government buildings.

But, no.  It’s not a Latin word.  

It turns out no one is entirely sure where this word comes from.  The best guesses are not what I was expecting.  Either caucus comes from the Alogonquian word caucausu, meaning counselor, or elder.  Or, it may have come from a political club in Boston named after a Greek word for cup, kaukos. 

Similar words: conference, council, inner circle, powwow, or round table.