I always thought that this naming convention was silly, other than maybe to teach college and university students how to badly mispronounce Greek letters. (For instance, the 2nd letter of the Greek alphabet actually has the sound of the English V, not B which needs a 2-letter combination in Greek.) Where did the custom originate, why is it always 2 or 3 letters instead of 1 or 4 (etc.), and what happens if they run out?
I’ve even seen some use other branding like “SigEp” for my school’s branch of Sigma Phi Epsilon.
Plus, fraternies were training for pretentious guys to join groups like masons or elks or shriners… Which all make me think of Fred Flintstone’s Order of the Water Buffalo…
Yes currently the b sound is transliterated as mu pi and beta currently has a v sound, but classically it had a b sound. Also delta now sounds like the th in then rather than a D.
The tradition of Greek-letter college societies was started by Phi Betta Kappa, which isn’t even really a fraternity, but an honor society. All the subsequently-formed organizations copied that naming tradition, except when they didn’t, such as the Secret Societies on some Ivy League campuses, like Skull & Bones, etc.
ΦΒΚ stands for “Φιλοσοφία Βίου Κυβερνήτης.” Why Greek? Because that was the language of classical scholarship, until those pesky Christians took over.
It’s not just that Greek was the language of classical scholarship, but more the fact that in the 19th century, when most of these clubs got their start, just about everyone who made it to college had to study Greek at some time or other. Or even just made it through HS sometimes; in the early years of Los Angeles High School every student had to take Greek.
…and kept right on using Greek to write the New Testament and other early Christian tracts. Though it must be said it was presumably quite rare for anyone in the 1800s to use Greek to read the Bible, unless they were studying in one of the better divinity programs.
The first social fraternities as we know the system were created at Union College in Schenectady, NY, with Kappa Alpha (1825), Sigma Phi (1827), Delta Phi (1827)*, Psi Upsilon (1833), Chi Psi (1841), and Theta Delta Chi (1847). The names were chosen for the same reason as Phi Beta Kappa – they were the initials of the first words of a Greek phrase that described their goals. Kappa Alpha – the first, and still in existence – was originally a debating society, but soon added a social aspect.
The idea of caught on. Kappa Alpha added branches at other colleges. Later, women’s colleges joined in. But since the first fraternities used Greek letter names, later ones followed suit; it made it clear what they were.
*These three are often referred to as “The Union Triad.”
RSE - Rensselaer Society of Engineers (RPI, Troy, NY) 3 Letters, but representing English words. I didn’t belong, and I’m not sure whether being a ‘Society’ disqualifies it from being a ‘Fraternity’ - but it sure looked like a fraternity on campus.
Yes, but in the middle ages in Christian western Europe, which was where the precursors of modern universities emerged, hardly anyone could read Greek at all, and Latin was the universal language of scholarship. Surely it was the lingering effects of this tradition that led to Latin still being considered fundamental in high schools in the 19th century, and often still taught as an option in the 20th. (Both I and my wife studied Latin in high school in the 1960s and '70s, me in an English state grammar school, and she at a public school in Los Angeles.) It is my impression that Greek was never anywhere near as widely taught at high school level as Latin. I find your claim about Los Angeles High surprising, and I suspect it was very unusual. It seems to me that the use of Greek by these organizations (no real equivalents of which exist outside the USA, so far as I am aware) was probably connected with some sort of 19th century American movement to revive Greek and the reputation of the ancient Greeks vis-a-vis the Romans, and to replace the study of the more traditional Latin with that of Greek.
Some groups now turn the system around and create Greek names from English. There are several science fiction groups, student and other, that call themselves Psi Phi, for sci-fi.
Sigma Epsilon Xi is a joke fraternity backformed from SEX. There’s a website for it. Safe for work.
You’re an RPI alum too, UncleFred? Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like there are a lot of us on this board. ANd yes, RSE is a full-fledged local fraternity (and they even allow non-engineers to join, how nice of them! (and IIRC, either my senior year or right after I graduated there was a woman who joined. They were never originally chartered as a coed fraternity, but they also weren’t chartered as a men’s only fraternity, so they were like "well…it doesn’ say we can’t, so why not?)) I wasn’t a member either, but the fraternity I am a member of (Alpha Chi Rho (AXP)) was always good friends with the. We often held joint social and charitable events.
Or, also:
Please don’t associate whatever personal experiences and prejudices you may have about some fraternities with all fraternitries in general.
Wikipedia has a list of fraternities and sororities and it mentions three that don’t have Greek letters (Triangle and the aforementioned Acacia and Farmhouse). Back in my college days, UVa. had two others, St.Elmo’s and another St. someone or other (although at least one of these had an alternate name with Greek letters). But, tradition is a pretty big draw for these fellows.
The International English Honor Society is, unfortunately, ΣΤΔ (Sigma Tau Delta). My friends and I who were members each picked a venereal disease; I was syphilis!
(and IIRC, either my senior year or right after I graduated there was a woman who joined. They were never originally chartered as a coed fraternity, but they also weren’t chartered as a men’s only fraternity, so they were like "well…it doesn’ say we can’t, so why not?)) I wasn’t a member either, but the fraternity I am a member of (Alpha Chi Rho (AXP)) was always good friends with the. We often held joint social and charitable events.
