Why those letters? (public/private)
 

After talking for a while on the Philippines GLO bulletin boards, I've come to realize that somewhere near half of those groups have *obvious* places that their choice of letters come from. For example. A group called Triskelion Grand Fraternity is Tau Gamma Phi (and their Sorority is Tau Gamma Sigma) and the "Medical School Fraternity" at one school is Mu Sigma Phi. (yes, you can cry now)

OTOH, in the United States, *most* Greek Letter Organizations (used in the widest sense) have the reason for choosing those particular letters (and for most, that particular order) private to the members of the group.

The only exceptions that I'm pretty sure of are
Phi Beta Kappa (Honor)
Delta Upsilon (NIC) (I know that Dikaia Upotheke (Justice Our Foundation) was adopted 24 years after the founding, but since the fraternity is public, I presume that information is public as well)
Omega Psi Phi (NPHC)
Gamma Sigma Sigma (Service)
I've also seen some Honor Societies where the letters were chosen from those of groups that merged to make the new honor society.

Are there any other where that information is public? I'm *not* looking for secrets here, I'm looking for groups that the reason for choosing those letters could be included in a description of the group in the Fraternity/Sorority page run by the Dean of Greek Affairs at the school.
(For example for Omega Psi Phi http://students.georgiasouthern.edu/...laimer_opp.htm)

From Alpha Chi Omega's website:

Alpha Chi Omega's Founders chose "Alpha," the first letter of the Greek alphabet, because they were forming the first fraternity in the school of music. Since they thought they might also be founding the last such fraternity, "Omega" seemed appropriate. "Kai," meaning "and," was added to form the beginning and the end. "Kai" was soon changed to "Chi," a letter of the Greek alphabet.

Also, you give Phi Beta Kappa as an example, but the meaning of those letters was secret at first.

Of course, many groups have an open (public) meaning and a closed (secret) meaning for their letters.

I do know of one GLO that used to state publically what the meaning of its name/letters was -- it could be found in some of their publications and even in at least one edition of Baird's. But for quite a long time now, that group has not published that information anywhere -- it seems to now be considered secret. So I ain't telling which group it is. ;)

There are several NALFO organizations that have "public" phrases that correspond with their letters:

Lambda Upsilon Lambda = La Unidad Latina
Chi Upsilon Sigma = Corazones Unidos Siempre
Lambda Upsilon Alpha = Latino America Unida
Lambda Sigma Upsilon = Latinos Siempre Unidos
Lambda Pi Upsilon = Latinas Poderosas Unidas
Lambda Pi Chi = Latinas Promoviendo Comunidad
Sigma Lambda Upsilon = Senoritas Latinas Unidas
Alpha Pi Sigma = Amigas Para Siempre

Now, whether the letters have meaning beyond the public phrase would only be known to members...

Thank you for the Alpha Chi Omega information. Also, I'd forgotten that Phi Beta Kappa's was originally private. To be clear I'm talking about today, but the information that it used to be private is good to have as well.

Yeah, wierd what you can find in old copies of Baird's ;)

Omega Phi Alpha's letters were chosen because of our National History being started by the Zeta Kappa Chapter of Alpha Phi Omega at Bowling Green State University. The Zeta Kappa chapter of APO was looking to create another organization to help them with service projects, and a lot of women were interested in being apart of it. So they created a service sorority and chose a similar name: Omega Phi Alpha.

You can read it as a part of our National History here on OPA's national website:
http://omegaphialpha.org/visitors/ab...tional-history

Theta Chi's name isn't secret. It means "helping hand." I can't spell it right, but it's something like Thereposa Cheir in Greek.

Sigma Kappa's is secret. Sorry guys.

Okay we have a couple meanings for them, and some are shared at initiation, but some are shared during the new member classes....
hmmmmm.......

I believe that's their motto (technically, I think that they translate Qhroposa Ceir as "An Assisting Hand"), which may or may not be the same as their name. As I said earlier, I don't think it's uncommon for groups to have both a public meaning and a private meaning for their letters. ;)

Well the motto according to the Wikipedia page is Θηρόποσα Χείρ , but I've seen at least three ways to transliterate it, and at least two ways to translate it (The Wikipedia page apparently gets people changing it back and forth between "An Assisting Hand" and "A Helping Hand") The motto is apparently the greek, not any specific english translation.

However, I haven't found anything on the National Fraternity site or on an official school greek site that says that's where the name comes from. I agree that it is *highly* likely though...

(I was composing this before MysticCat responded)

However which of the meanings was actually the *reason* that the letters were chosen could be either, and a Delta Delta Delta sister especially a historian would know much better than I...

This raises an interesting point. Theta Chi's public name, of course, is Theta Chi. I don't think it's any secret that for some GLOs, the Greek letters that form their public name stand for a motto (much as FBK, which originally was not the name of the organization, stood for "Philosophy, the Helmsman of Life") or for certain ideals, while in other organizations the Greek letters stand for the "real" name of the organization.

I'm not saying that Theta Chi falls in that latter category -- I have no idea one way or the other. It's just worth remembering that there's not a single way of doing things, even for something as basic as naming a Greek Letter Organization.

Good point about Theta Chi's name vs. motto. I just assumed it was also their name since it starts with the same letters. I supposed there are multiple Greek words that start with Theta and Chi, though. Hehe

I would think that most of the NPC sororities have private meanings to their letters (Other than the already stated Alpha Chi Omega).

Kappa Alpha Theta's is secret.

Yes, Alpha Chi has a public meaning. But that may not be the only one.

I'd venture to say that ALL of them do. Chi Omega famously chose their letters because they looked good together, but I'm sure there is some deeper meaning to those letters, as well. The how of picking letters may vary, but I guarantee that no one's letters are meaningless.

oops i'm a terrible officer, i was the historian for 3 months when one of our officers left http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/icons/icon11.gif. Well, I'm gonna wait for another Tri Delta to come on here and say it, cause I don't want to mess us. Okay I should clarify a REASON why they were chosen is told to the new members at their retreat. Hmmmm.

Our associate member pin is in the shape of a delta with a chi in the middle separating the pin into four sections. They are given a meaning to "inspire" the AMs but I wouldn't really consider those words to be an alternate meaning to our letters but more of a meaning for the letters on the pin. The AM ceremony is open and so are the meaning of these letters.

something like that ;)

If I told you, I'd have to kill you :)

The Hebrew on our badge causes a great deal of head-scratching - and listing as a "Jewish sorority" on e-bay. :)

Gamma Phi
 

If you speak Hebrew you can speculate what it stands for :rolleyes:

Heck, if you speak/read Hebrew you can read it - but you still won't know exactly what it means to Gamma Phi. ;)

Alpha Sigma Kappa's is secret ;)

However, our Greek letters represent the social aspect of our sorority. Our formal name, Women in Technical Studies, represents our focus on academics and learning.

AST has a closed and an open motto. The open motto is Active, Self-Reliant, Trustworthy - obviously spelling AST as well. The closed motto is nunya bizniz :P

Is that the Pig Latin, or Esperanto? :p

I'm pretty close with a couple of OX brothers at my school. One came straight out and told me that the formal name of the organization Θηρόποσα Χείρ, which the chapter at my school translate as the helping hand. Also from what I was told OX's motto was originally a secret but was reveled for a specific reason, which I'm not going to say here.

I probably could have replied to this like 15 days ago... but whatever.

Sigma Phi Epsilon does not have a public meaning.

Although, a few of our symbols have partially public meanings (like the Greek Orthodox cross on the crest or the fact that our badge is a heart).

Yeah the meaning behind the Psi Upsilon are secret. However unlike most organizations our coat of arms is completely open.

Bump

Well, we are secret with out letter's meaning. But as for others, I know of two in the NIC that are open (there are so many NIC I am sure there are more)

NOTE: I'm getting these from the wikipedia page. I'm not divulging anyone's secrets.

Z.B.T. referred to the first letters in the Hebrew phrase "Zion Bemishpat Tipadeh", which translated means "Zion shall be redeemed with justice"
Theta Chi: Θηρόποσα Χείρ or An Assisting Hand

Alpha Sigma Alpha's open motto is Aspire, Seek, Attain. (It's right on our crest.)

That may or may not be our only motto. ;)

The meaning of the Greek words for which Delta Gamma stands are different and are secret.

But one should never assume that these are the only meanings of the letters. They may be or they may not be. ;)

From the AEPhi web site:

"Α, Ε & Φ stand for faculty approval, student esteem and sorority fidelity."

Indeed... ;)

Huh. An AEPhi friend told me their motto years ago, and it was...not that. Now I'm wondering if she told me your secret motto, or if what she told me was a local thing.

Well, we are secret with out letter's meaning. But as for others, I know of two in the NIC that are open (there are so many NIC I am sure there are more)

NOTE: I'm getting these from the wikipedia page. I'm not divulging anyone's secrets.

Z.B.T. referred to the first letters in the Hebrew phrase "Zion Bemishpat Tipadeh", which translated means "Zion shall be redeemed with justice"

MysticCat; But one should never assume that these are the only meanings of the letters. They may be or they may not be. ;)

MysticCat you are correct. While the Z.B.T society meaning of the letters were not a secret to the outside world, when it was changed to a Greek-Letter Fraternity the Founders of 1898 Columbia and the Founders of 1903 CCNY establish another meaning behind the letters which was added to the oath of brotherhood that all brothers take during the initiation process. That remains a secret.

ZBT:"Honoring the Past, Celebrating the Present & Impacting the Future."

Devodude, Could you take a look at the ZBT wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeta_Beta_Tau) and perhaps add some of the last half of the paragraph?

I think ours is fairly obvious - Adelphean Society to Alpha Delta Phi to Alpha Delta Pi. But the meaning behind Adelphean will stay within our sisterhood!