calamus

See also: Calamus

English

Acorus calamus

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ḱélh₂m̥

Ancient Greek κάλαμος (kálamos)bor.

Latin calamuslbor.

English calamus

Learned borrowing from Latin calamus (“reed, cane”), borrowed from Ancient Greek κάλαμος (kálamos), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱélh₂m̥ (“reed, straw”). Doublet of culm, haulm, helm (Etymology 4, stalk), qalam, and shawm.

Noun

calamus (usually uncountable, plural calamuses or calami)

1. Sweet flag (Acorus calamus).
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Song of Solomon 4:12–14:

     A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices

2. (ornithology) A quill; the hard, horny, hollow, and more or less transparent part of the stem or scape of a feather.
   • 1956, Advisory Board on Quartermaster Research and Development, The Utilization of Chicken Feathers as Filling Materials, page 9:

     Thus, the four distinct feather parts that have been compared as to amino acid content to note whether or not the composition is uniform are rachis, barbs, calamus and medulla.

   • 1969, RIC Spearman, “The epidermis and feather follicles of the king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonica) (aves)”, in Zeitschrift für Morphologie der Tiere:

     In follicles late in feather growth, after rupture of the feather sheath, this canal contained the upper part of the calamus.

   • 1969, CH Fry, “Structural and functional adaptation to display in the Standard‐winged nightjar Macrodipteryx longipennis”, in Journal of Zoology:

     Chapin asserted that the calamus is firmly fixed in the wing

3. A fish of genus Calamus in family Sparidae; certain porgies.
4. A palm in genus Calamus, of rattan palms.
5. (botany) A fistular stem without an articulation.
6. (Christianity, historical) Synonym of fistula (“tube for sucking Eucharist wine”).

Translations

sweet flag — see sweet flag

quill — see quill

fistula — see fistula

Further reading

• calamus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Acorus calamus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Calamus (Sparidae) on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Calamus (Arecaceae) on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• “calamus”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “calamus”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ḱélh₂m̥

Ancient Greek κάλαμος (kálamos)bor.

Latin calamus

Borrowed from Ancient Greek κάλαμος (kálamos). Doublet of culmus. Compare calamīna.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈka.ɫa.mʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkaː.la.mus]

Noun

calamus m (genitive calamī); second declension

1. a reed, cane
2. (by extension) an object made from a reed, such as a reed pen, arrow, or fishing rod
   • Motto of Keio University:

     Calamus gladio fortior

     The pen is mightier than the sword.

3. (of plants) a stalk, straw, blade
4. the hollow arm of a candelabrum
5. a whistle or musical pipe; sometimes specifically a blown pipe with tone holes

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	calamus	calamī
genitive	calamī	calamōrum
dative	calamō	calamīs
accusative	calamum	calamōs
ablative	calamō	calamīs
vocative	calame	calamī

Derived terms

• calamārius
• calamister
• calamellus

Descendants

• Asturian: gárabu, garbu
• Albanian: kallam
• Italian: calamo
• Old French: chaume
  • French: chaume
• Romanian: carâmb
• → Catalan: càlam
• → Dutch: kalmoes
• → English: calamus
• → French: calame
• → Galician: cálamo
• → German: Kalmus
• →⇒ Norwegian Nynorsk: kalmerot, kalmusrot, kamrot
• → Portuguese: cálamo
• → Spanish: cálamo

References

• “calamus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “calamus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "calamus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “calamus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “calamus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “calamus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
• Lexicon musicum Latinum medii aevi, digital version in the Wörterbuchnetz des Trier Center for Digital Humanities, version 01/21, accessed 12 May 2022.[1]