junto
A group of men assembled for some common purpose; a club, or cabal.
archaic
The opinions of this junto were completely controlled by Nicholas Vedder, a patriarch of the village, and landlord of the inn, at the door of which he took his seat from morning to night, just moving sufficiently to … keep in the shade of a large tree; ….
Where it comes from
Erroneous adaptation of junta, by assimilation with Spanish nouns in -o.
Adapted from the Wiktionary entry junto (CC BY-SA 4.0).