calamus

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin calamus (“reed, cane”), from Ancient Greek κάλαμος (kálamos). Doublet of calame, culm, haulm, helm (Etymology 4), and shawm.

Noun

calamus (usually uncountable, plural calamuses or calami)

1. The 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. (Christianity, historical) Synonym of fistula (“tube for sucking Eucharist wine”)

Translations

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.
• “calamus”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek κάλαμος (kálamos), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱolh₂mos. Doublet of culmus. Compare calamīna.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈka.la.mus/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈka.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.

Derived terms

• calamārius
• calamister
• calamellus

Descendants

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’s 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.