Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

The world seems to have been created in 1857 by a group called the Mistik Krewe of Comus.  From what I can gather, they intentionally misspelled crew as krewe to make it look archaic (though I haven't found any evidence that any variation of the word ever began with k).

 

However, Merriam-Webster states that the first known use of krewe was in 1936.  I find it unlikely that M-W is simply wrong, and suspect that there is a deeper explanation.  My guess is that the word shifted from being the specific term for one group to being a general term for any formal organization involved in organizing Mardi Gras events, but I cannot find anything to verify that.  I would expect a change in language like that to be gradual, but this would presumably lead M-W to say that the word evolved over time, rather than in one specific year.

 

Does anyone have any insight into this?

 

Thank you.