The Facts on File Dictionary of Allusions - Green Valley High School

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cabal (kbbal) A group of close advisers or conspirators,
a junta. It is popularly believed that the
word dates from the 17th century, and that it
referred originally to a group of ministers who
controlled Britain under Charles II, being formed
from the initials of their names (Clifford, Ashley,
Buckingham, Arlington, and Lauderdale). In 1672
this group of men acted entirely without the consent
of Parliament when they entered a Treaty of
Alliance with France, thus leading to war with
Holland. In fact, the word made its first appearance
in English some 50 years earlier, when it was
incorporated into the language from the French
cabale. <strong>The</strong> ultimate origins of the word lie in the
Hebrew cabala, which refers to a collection of
writings conveying the mystical secrets of the
Torah. “This was not a powerful cabal, and they
had little expectation of early success” (James
Hinton, Protests and Visions, 1989).
cabbages and kings A wide and contrasting
range of subjects. <strong>The</strong> phrase, which implies that
the subjects named are so disparate that any connection
between them would be nonsensical,
comes originally from the poem “<strong>The</strong> Walrus
and the Carpenter” in Lewis Carroll’s Through
the Looking-Glass (1872): “ ‘<strong>The</strong> time has come,’
the Walrus said, / ‘To talk of many things: / Of
shoes—and ships—and sealing wax— / Of
cabbages—and kings.’ ” <strong>The</strong> phrase was later
adopted by O. Henry (William Sydney Porter;
1862–1910) as the title of a volume of otherwise
unconnected short stories (1904). For many
years he wrote a cabbages and kings article in the
paper in which he discussed anything that took his
fancy.
Cadillac (kadilak) An expensive, luxurious
automobile, or anything that is considered the
best of its kind. <strong>The</strong> original Cadillac car was
assembled by General Motors at its factory in
Cadillac, Michigan. Since then the term (also
rendered as Caddy) has been applied more
widely to luxury cars in general and is also used
in nonautomotive contexts. This is the Cadillac of
rock bands.
Cadmean letters (kadmeebn) <strong>The</strong> 16 letters of
the Greek alphabet. <strong>The</strong>y were named after the
legendary Cadmus, king of Phoenicia and Telephassa
in Greek mythology, who founded the city
of <strong>The</strong>bes and was credited with introducing the
alphabet to Greece from Phoenicia. By the end of
the term all these young scholars are expected to be
familiar with the Cadmean letters and other basics of
rhetoric.
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