Etymologically
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calamus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈka.ɫa.mʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkaː.la.mus][1]

Forms

calamus m (genitive calamī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κάλαμος (kálamos, “reed”).[2][1][3] Wiktionary calls it a doublet of the native culmus “stalk”.[1] Isidore derived the musical reed from ⟨calēre⟩, pouring out sounds.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of a reed pen.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[3]

Semantic evolution

It meant a reed, a cane, as in Pliny the Elder, and in Plautus a reed pen for writing in ink, as opposed to the metal stilus.[2] In Virgil it meant a reed pipe, an arrow, a vine prop and a stalk, and in Propertius a fishing rod and a lime twig for catching birds.[2] Döderlein explains that culmus is the stalk with regard to its slender height, calamus with regard to its hollowness.[5]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a reed, pen, fishing rod.[6] British Medieval Latin used it for a reed, the sweet flag, and a corn stalk, stubble.[7] It survives in Italian calamo and as French chaume “stubble”, and was borrowed into English as calamus, the sweet flag.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a pen.[2][3]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a pipe and an arrow.[2][3]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a reed.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A reed, cane.[2]
  2. A reed pen.[2]
  3. A reed pipe.[2]
  4. A fishing rod; a lime twig.[2]
  5. An arrow; a vine prop; a stalk.[2]

Word family

  • calamārius
  • calamellus
  • calamister
  • calamistrum
  • ūnicalamus

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes it from culmus.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  5. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press