Societas Via Romana - Discussion Archives

Salvete Romani,

I read in a Roman themed newsgroups today that the English word "OK" comes from Greek. Apparently, when Byron and the British were assisting the Greeks in their War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire, the word OK entered the British lexicon. It is supposed to come from "Ola Kala", i.e. "Everything is Good". Does anyone have any other interpretation?

Valete,

That interpretation sounded funny, as though the Brits were trying to appropriate one of the American contributions to world culture (they needn't bother, the English and Scots have contributed a lot more than we ever will). It reminded me of the Russians claiming during the Cold War that they had invented baseball...

Anyways, here is a more likely interpretation that I found in the American (of course) Heritage Dictionary:

Word History: OK is a quintessentially American term that has spread from English to many other languages. Its origin was the subject of scholarly debate for many years until Allen Walker Read showed that OK is based on a joke of sorts. OK is first recorded in 1839 but was probably in circulation before that date. During the 1830s there was a humoristic fashion in Boston newspapers to reduce a phrase to initials and supply an explanation in parentheses. Sometimes the abbreviations were misspelled to add to the humor. OK was used in March 1839 as an abbreviation for all correct, the joke being that neither the O nor the K was correct. Originally spelled with periods, this term outlived most similar abbreviations owing to its use in President Martin Van Buren's 1840 campaign for reelection. Because he was born in Kinderhook, New York, Van Buren was nicknamed Old Kinderhook, and the abbreviation proved eminently suitable for political slogans. That same year, an editorial referring to the receipt of a pin with the slogan O.K. had this comment: “frightful letters... significant of the birth-place of Martin Van Buren, old Kinderhook, as also the rallying word of the Democracy of the late election, ‘all correct’.... Those who wear them should bear in mind that it will require their most strenuous exertions... to make all things O.K.”