The word cabal orig meant ‘secret’, soon extended to ‘secret meeting’ and ‘clandestine group’. The latter was particularly applied to a committee of the privy council, which in 1670 had five members whose initials spelt the word cabal: Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale

French cabale via medieval Latin cabbala from late Hebrew qabbālāh received (lore). The word orig meant ‘secret’, soon extended to ‘secret meeting’ and ‘clandestine group’. The latter was particularly applied to a committee of the privy council. By coincidence, from 1670 to 1674, the initials of five principal members of this committee spelt the word cabal: Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, Lauderdale. Contemporary pamphleteers seized on this coincidence to attack the five men, and thereby gave wider currency to the word