ＯＫの語源は？

質問

雑学の本（フランス語版『ウソ・ホント大辞典』）を読んでいたら、ＯＫの語源が出ていました。
アメリカの南北戦争時代、軍隊日誌に死亡者がなかった日にO.K.(Zero Killed)と書いたのが始まりで、それが転じて万事順調のことをＯＫというようになったというのです。
でも日本で出版されている辞典、辞書の類を調べても、そんな故事来歴は載っていません。まあ、雑学に関しては欧米説と日本説が違うというのはよくあることですが。
どなたかＯＫの本当の語源、ご存知ですか？

回答No.6

kibinago · ベストアンサー

確か、『アメリカ語ものがたり』で読んだと思うのですが、
OKの語源については諸説あり、研究者のなかでも決定的な説はなく、
今となっては調べる方法もなく、正確なところはわからないってことでした。

お礼

どうもそのようですね。諸説ある中でもフランスのO Killed説が一番信憑性に欠けるようです。
語源が何であれ、もうOKは定着した言葉ですからね。
とどめの一発、ありがとうございました！

回答No.5

GreenRiver

再度です。
家に帰って本を見てみました。

青春出版社「退屈しのぎの世界史びっくり本」によると、アメリカの第７代大統領アンドルー・ジャクソンが、きちんとした教育を受けたエリートではなかったためにうっかり書類に「Oll Korrect」と書いてしまったのを世間が揶揄して広まった…とありました。

ただし、これが本当かどうかは知りません…

お礼

う～ん。大統領のミスねぇ。まあ、一般受け狙いとしては妥当な線かも。
いろいろ調べて下さって、ありがとうございました。

回答No.4

aodesu

No.1の方がアメリカの大統領が・・・って書いてますが、
私は、ナポレオンって聞いたことあります。
でも、長い英文の方が正しそう。

お礼

こうなると事の発端は英語圏の人間か、フランス語圏の人間かも怪しいですね。
いろんな説に更にバリエーションが加わって、よけい面白くなってきました。
ありがとうございました。

回答No.3

Ganbatteruyo

アメリカに３５年ほど住んでいる者です。

これこそ、何が正しいかわかりませんね。　昔必要があって、調べたノートをコピーしました。　ごめんなさい、全て英語です。　これで、前に出ていた回答と比べることができると思います。

（私はこの中で、どれが正しいか分かりませんし、決めようとも思っていません。）

ただ、参考になればと思いまして。　長くてすみません。　

For years no one was really sure where the word came from. The origin of OK became the Holy Grail of etymology. Finally, in 1963 the Galahad of our story, Dr. Allen Walker Read of Columbia University appeared and uncovered the origin.

But first, some of the more popular suggestions as to the origin are as follows. These can all be dismissed because of lack of evidence or because OK predates the events that supposedly led to creation.

It stands for oll korrect, a misspelling of all correct, usually by a famous person, most often Andrew Jackson. This one comes close to the mark, but still misses it.

It stands for Old Kinderhook, the nickname of Martin Van Buren who came from Kinderhook, New York. Old Kinderhook played a role in popularizing the term, but it is not its origin. (More on this later.)

It comes from any one of a number of languages, most often the Choctaw word okeh . This explanation often involves Andrew Jackson again, but this time adopting it from the Indian language not because he was orthographically-challenged. A later president, Woodrow Wilson, favored this explanation, but he was wrong. As far as this explanation goes, it was not suggested until 1885 and no evidence exists that this, or any foreign word, is in fact the origin.

It is an abbreviation for Oberst Kommandant, or Colonel-in-Command, used by Von Steuben or Schliessen (take your pick) during the Revolutionary War. No record of either man, or anyone until 1839, using this phrase exists.

It comes from the French Aux Cayes, a port in Haiti famed for its rum.
It stood for Orrin Kendall crackers supplied to the Union Army during the Civil War. Unfortunately for Orrin's immortality, OK was in use twenty years before the Civil War.

It stood for Obadiah Kelly, a railroad shipping clerk akin to Kilroy who initialed bills of lading. And,

That it was an 1860s telegraph term for Open Key.

Of the above explanations, the first comes the closest to being true, but it too is false. Andrew Jackson was a notoriously poor speller. So much so that his spelling became an issue in the 1828 campaign. (Dan Quayle can take heart in the fact that he was not the first.) He is not, however, known to have ever used the expression OK or misspelled "all correct" with the two letters in question. The association of the word OK with Jackson, however, is not entirely without foundation. George W. Stimpson's Nuggets Of Knowledge, published in 1934 cites a 1790 court record from Sumner County, Tennessee in which Jackson "proved a bill of sale from Hugh McGary to Gasper Mansker, for a Negro man, which was O.K." This was probably just poor penmanship on the part of a court clerk, however. James Parton's biography of Jackson suggests that is really an illegible O.R., which was the abbreviation used for Order Recorded.

The incorrect spelling explanation is the correct one. Although the part about Andrew Jackson is almost certainly apocryphal. Allen Walker Read of Columbia University solved the mystery in a series of articles in American Speech in 1963-64. In 1839, a "frolicsome group," as Read describes them, called the Anti-Bell-Ringing Society in Boston started using the term to stand for oll korrect, a facetious misspelling.

The first recorded use of OK was in the spring of 1839 by the Boston Morning Post :

(23 March) "He of the Journal...would have the "contribution box," et ceteras, o.k.--all correct--and cause the corks to fly, like sparks, upward."
(26 March) "Had the pleasure of taking these 'interesting strangers' by the hand, and wishing them a speedy passage to the Commercial Emporium, They were o.k."
(10 April) "It is hardly necessary to say to those who know Mr. Hughes, that his establishment will be found to be 'A. No. One'--that is, O.K.--all correct."

By July of that year, the term spread south to New York, and quickly gained wide acceptance:

(27 July, Evening Tattler) "These 'wise men from the East'...are right...to play at bowls with us as long as we are willing to set ourselves up, like skittles, to be knocked down for their amusement and emolument. OK! all correct!"

The next year, 1840, New York Democrats formed an organization called the OK Club. The name of the club stood for Old Kinderhook as Martin Van Buren was running for reelection that year. Since the term was in use prior to the formation of the OK Club, it seems likely that the name of the club was due in part due to the phrase, not vice versa. The activities of the OK Club, however, undoubtedly contributed to the popularity of OK even if not providing the origin.

The variant A-OK first appeared during NASA's Mercury program of the 1960s. It may be a combination of A-One with OK. Tom Wolfe in The Right Stuff, however, claims that it was originally used by Shorty Powers, the "Voice of Mercury Control," in radio transmissions because the "A" sound cut through static better than the "O".

と言う事です。　参考になりましたか?　これはあくまでも、作者の個人主張です。

お礼

面白い資料をありがとうございました。
いろんな説があるものの、O Killed説は見当たらないんですよね。
フランス人が勝手にデッチ上げたのかもしれません。（人迷惑な！）

回答No.2

Rikos

いろんな説があるようです。

http://www.okweb.ne.jp/kotaeru.php3?q=351579

参考URL：

http://www.okweb.ne.jp/kotaeru.php3?q=351579

お礼

ここまでいろんな説があるとは思いませんでした。
もうこうなるとquizeみたいに誰かの仕掛けたイタズラかな？と思えてきます。
ありがとうございました。

回答No.1

GreenRiver

私が見た雑学の本には、昔のアメリカの大統領？がall correct を oll korrect と書き間違えたため、とありましたが…

ちなみに、「OK　語源」で検索すると同様の質問が幾つかヒットします。
そのうちの一つをご紹介します。

参考URL：

http://www.okweb.ne.jp/kotaeru.php3?q=351579

お礼

私が調べた範囲でも、この説が多かったです。一番メジャーな説のようですね。
ありがとうございました。