The 3 Ks

[Birchy]

What are the origins and meaning of Ku Klux Klan? Why did a gang of cowardly racist thugs take on this title?

[andy hughes]

The name is a corruption of original Greek, meaning 'circle'. The organisation formed originally as a sort of 'gentlemen's club' idea for Southern farmers with too much time on their hands, and as often happened, it got highjacked by extremists who preyed on the fear and distrust of Negro slaves that was a fundamental part of the slave / owner culture of the Southern states in the last century. Happily, like all extreme cults, it has remained a crutch for a minority of insecure individuals who feel safe belonging to a 'gang', but as far as they are concerned, it sounds exotic, mysterious, and very much a 'group' - everything the members would like to be, but can't manage!

[incitatus]

It turns up in a Sherlock Holmes story....title something like "the five orange pips". The venerable Mr Hughes is right in that it derives from KYKLOS, but it was debased and adopted because of its onomatopoeic similarity to the sound of a 12-bore being shucked.
What has always intrigued me is how the scariest people have the silliest uniform. I think it was Chesterton who defined it as "I look ridiculous but you DARE NOT laugh"

[tamaragsmith]

QUOTE: The "Ku Klux Klan", from the greek "kuklos", ("circle" or "wheel"), is, like Masonry, a "fraternal organization". This one grew out of the Civil War in America to protect and preserve the white race and ensure "voluntary separation" of the races, and even extinction of Blacks, Catholics, and Jews.
It was founded in Polaski, Tennessee, in 1866 by 6 Confederate officers. One of them, and the first Imperial Wizard of the KKK, was a former Confederate general and Freemason, Nathan Bedford Forrest. END QUOTE
From: http://religion-cults.com/Secret/Ku-Klux-Klan/kkk.htm