Origin of Anzac

THE origin of the word ‘‘Anzac’’ although clearly described by General Sir Ian Hamilton in his memorable Gallipoli despatch, has already been the subject of at least halfadozen heated controversies. It is almost too elementary to say that Anzac is merely a harmless acrostic composed of the initial letters of the title ‘‘AustralianNew Zealand Army Corps’’. It has been stated on more or less reliable authority that there is a Turkish word ‘‘Anzak’’ meaning ‘‘only just’’. If this is so, it is only just a coincidence and nothing more.

As for who coined or used the word in the first place, there is possibly legitimate ground for controversy. Lieutenant Keith M. Little (Wellington), who was on Corps Headquarters at the time, has made a statement which seems to clear up this side of the matter.

He says: ‘‘No accurate account concerning the origination of the word ‘Anzac’ has yet been published, so with the desire of settling once and for all the many doubts surrounding the word, I will describe its discovery and history. Shortly after the first Expeditionary Force representing the Commonwealth of Australia and the Dominion of New Zealand arrived in Egypt (early in December, 1914), it was decided to organise the two forces into an army corps, officially designed the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The officers of Corps Headquarters came from India, and the clerical staff, which I joined on December 26, 1914, comprised representatives from both the colonial

forces and one or two from the Imperial Army. Shortly after Corps Headquarters had been established in Cairo, Egypt, the necessity for a telegraphic address arose, and after many abbreviated forms of the official designation of the corps had been submitted, the word ‘‘Anzac’’ was discovered. The word was actually discovered by the superintending clerk (an Imperial Army officer of the A.S.C.), and he simply hit on the idea of joining the first letters of the words in the title of the corps.