As every Alpha Gam pledge (oops--new member!) learns, " ' fraternity' comes from the Greek word for 'family,' or 'clan.'" The word sorority was coined when Gamma Phi Beta was founded in 1874. (I have not looked that up in the Oxford English Dictionary--I think "sorority" was around before 1874, but that was the first time it was added to a Greek-letter organization.)
As far as I know, these NPC groups are legally incorporated as fraternities:
Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Pi Beta Phi, Alpha Phi, Delta Delta Delta, Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Gamma Delta, Chi Omega, Phi Mu, Zeta Tau Alpha, Delta Gamma, Alpha Xi Delta, Alpha Omicron Pi.
As for being "started by men," yes, in more than one instance a man helped the women founders with aspects of ritual, choosing a motto, etc. Alpha Phi (1872), Gamma Phi Beta (1874), and Alpha Gamma Delta (1904) were all assisted by Dr. Wellesley P. Coddington, a professor at Syracuse University. More than one of us in the "Syracuse Triad" has wondered how much our mottoes and rituals have in common!
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