Kalamos is a Greek word meaning "reed", from which comes stories of the Greek mythological figure Kalamos, the son of Maiandros (aka Meander), god of the Meander River. Greek mythology comprises the collected legends of Greek gods, goddesses, heroes, and heroines, originally created and spread within an oral-poetic tradition. ... Maiandros was an ancient God who was the personification of the river Meander. ... The Maeander River is the classical Latin name for the Büyük Menderes River in southwestern Turkey. ...

Kalamos is also the name of a small Greek island of about 600 residents in the Ionian Sea. The Ionian Sea is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, south of the Adriatic Sea. ...

Kalamos and Karpos

The story, told in Nonnus's Dionysiaca, tells of the love of two boys, Karpos and Kalamos. Karpos is drowned, and in his grief Kalamos is turned into a water reed. The sound of rustling reeds is thought to be Kalamos sighing and lamenting Karpos forever.^[1] It has been suggested that this myth inspired the title for Walt Whitman's "Calamus" poems in Leaves of Grass. The Latin versions of the names Kalamos and Karpos are Calamus and Carpus. Nonnus, Greek epic poet, a native of Panopolis (Akhmim) in the Egyptian Thebaid, probably lived at the end of the 4th or the beginning of the 5th century AD. His principal work is the Dionysiaca, an epic in forty-eight books, the main subject of which is the expedition of... Karpos (or Carpus) was a Greek mythological figure, whose name in Greek means fruit. He is the son of Zephyros (the west wind) and Khloris (spring, or new vegetation), together forming a natural metaphor — the west wind comes with the new growth of spring, which later bears fruit. ... Walt Whitman Walt Whitman, age 37, frontispiece to Leaves of Grass, Fulton St. ... Walt Whitman, age 37, frontispiece to Leaves of Grass, Fulton St. ... Latin is the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Calamus may mean: Sweet flag Acorus calamus, an herb Calamus (palm genus), a genus of rattan palms Calamus (fish genus), a genus of porgies (Sparidae) Calamus, Iowa Calamus, Wisconsin Calamus, a DTP application This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the... In Greek mythology, Carpus fruit was a son of Chloris and Boreas. ...

Etymology of the word Kalamos

Cognates can be found in Sanskrit (kalama, meaning "reed" and "pen" as well as a sort of rice) and Latin (calamus), suggesting the word originates in Proto-Indo European, the parent language of the three. The Arabic word qalam (meaning "pen" or "reed pen") is likely to have been borrowed from one of these languages in antiquity, or directly from Indo-European itself. Cognates are words that have a common origin. ... The Sanskrit language ( संस्कृता वाक्) is one of the earliest attested members of the Indo-European language family and is not only a classical language, but also an official language of India. ... Latin is the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... See Pie (disambiguation) for other uses of PIE. The Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) is the hypothetical common ancestor of the Indo-European languages. ... Arabic (العربية) is a Semitic language, closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ...

From the Latin calamus come a number of modern English words:

• calamus (aka Sweet Flag), a wetland reed;
• calamari, meaning "squid", via the Latin calamarium, "ink horn" or "pen case", as reeds were then used as writing implements;
• calumet, another name for the Native American peace pipe, which was often made from a hollow reed;
• shawm, a medieval oboe-like instrument (whose sound is produced by a vibrating reed mouthpiece);
• chalumeau register, the lower notes of a clarinet's range (another reed instrument).

Binomial name Acorus calamus Linnaeus, Calamus or Sweet flag (Acorus calamus) is a plant from the Acoraceae family. ... Reed may mean: Reed (plant), a plant with a tall strong hollow stem that grows in large groups in shallow water or on marshy ground Reed (music), a thin strip of material which vibrates to make music, often made from the stem of the reed plant Reed College, a college... For other uses, see Squid (disambiguation). ... Latin is the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Native Americans (also Indians, Aboriginal Peoples, American Indians, First Nations, Alaskan Natives, Amerindians, or Indigenous Peoples of America) are the indigenous inhabitants of The Americas prior to the European colonization, and their modern descendants. ... A peace pipe (also called a calumet or medicine pipe), is a ceremonial smoking pipe used by many Native American tribes. ... Woman playing a bass shawm, (Tobias Stimmer ca. ... Modern Oboe The Oboe is a musical instrument of the woodwind double reed family. ... A bass clarinet, which sounds an octave lower than the more common Bâ™­ soprano clarinet. ... Reed instruments are musical instruments; they are members of the woodwind family. ...

References

• ^ Nonnos, Dionysiaca, translated by le Comte de Marcellus in 1856. Eglinton 1964: 474.