Origin of "King Kong" (Chinese? Courting frogs?)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 1/9/06, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I never gave a thought to a possible meaning for the title. I knew
> that an animal could be called "King" ("On, King! On, you huskies!" as
> Sgt. Preston of the Royal Mounties was wont to shout). BTW, didn't the
> natives refer to the Great  Ape as merely "Kong"? If that's true, do
> you know how it was, within the movie, that Kong came to be given the
> honorific of "king"? Was it just a showbiz thing, given to Kong as he
> was about to be taken on the road?

I don't believe Kong is ever called "King Kong" within the movie. He
is called "king", though not honorifically. This is from the shooting
script:

 -----
 http://www.whiskeyloosetongue.com/kong_script.html

 DENHAM
 We'll give him more than chains.
 He's always been king of the world.
 But we'll teach him fear.
 (his voice rises triumphantly)
 We're millionaires. I'll share with
 all of you. Listen, boys a few
 months from now it'll be in lights
 on Broadway -- Kong, the Eight
 Wonder.
 DISSOLVE TO electric sign on a theatre,
"KONG, the Eight Wonder."

 [,,,]

 DENHAM
 - and now, ladies and gentlemen,
 before I tell you more, I am going
 to show you the greatest sight your
 eyes ever beheld. He was the king
 and the god of the world he knew,
 but now he comes to civilization,
 merely a captive, a show to gratify
 your curiosity. Ladies and
 gentlemen, look at KONG, the Eight
 Wonder of the World.
 -----

So I guess "King Kong" was just picked as a snappy title (cf. earlier
movies by Cooper and Schoedsack with titles like "Chang" and "Rongo").

By the way, I've written more about "Kong" in a Lang Log post:

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002751.html


--Ben Zimmer