calamus - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Acorus calamus

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

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”).

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

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

Second-declension noun.