Wiktionary

calamus

See also: Calamus

English

edit
 
Acorus calamus

Etymology

edit

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

Noun

edit

calamus (usually uncountable, plural calamuses or calami)

  1. The sweet flag, Acorus calamus.
  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

edit

Further reading

edit

Latin

edit

Etymology

edit

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

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

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

edit

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

edit

Descendants

edit

References

edit
  • “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.[1]
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=calamus&oldid=82781137"