Kalamos

'''Kalamos''' ({{langx|grc|Κάλαμος|lit=reed, reed pen}}; {{langx|la|Calamus}}) is a Greek mythological figure. He is son of Maiandros, the god of the Maeander river.

==Mythology== A story in Nonnus's ''Dionysiaca'' tells about the love of two youths, Kalamos and Karpos. Karpos drowned in the Meander river while the two were competing in a swimming contest. In his grief, Kalamos allowed himself to drown also. He was then transformed into a water reed, whose rustling in the wind was interpreted as a sigh of lamentation.<ref>Nonnos, ''Dionysiaca'', translated by le Comte de Marcellus in 1856. Eglinton 1964: 474.</ref> The acorus calamusare water reed which has a fragrant scent (more commonly known as Sweet Flag) is named after Calamus and this myth.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Reeds Along the River Meander – Plant Spirit Life |url=https://plantspiritlife.com/the-reeds-along-the-river-meander/ |access-date=2024-03-20 |language=en-US}}</ref>

Walt Whitman's "Calamus" poems in ''Leaves of Grass'' may have been inspired by this story.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}}

==Etymology of the word Kalamos== Similar words can be found in Sanskrit (कलम ''kalama'', meaning "reed" and "pen" as well as a type of rice), Hebrew (''kulmus'', meaning quill) and Latin (''calamus'') as well as the ancient Greek Κάλαμος (''Kalamos''). The Arabic word قلم ''qalam'' (meaning "pen" or "reed pen") is likely to have been borrowed from one of these languages in antiquity.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}} The Swahili word ''kalamu'' ("pen") comes from the Arabic ''qalam''.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}}

The Greeks also used the term for various wind instruments, especially but not necessarily reed instruments, including the aulos, or the plural ''kalamoi'' for the syrinx.<ref>{{cite Grove|date = 2001|title = Kalamos|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.14608|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

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'', a French, colonial-era word often used for a Native American ceremonial pipe * ''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)

==See also== * Qalam, Arabic pen

== References == {{Reflist}}

== Bibliography == * Nonnus of Panopolis, ''Dionysiaca'' translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863-1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940. [https://topostext.org/work/529 Online version at the Topos Text Project.] * Nonnus of Panopolis, ''Dionysiaca. 3 Vols.'' W.H.D. Rouse. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940-1942. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0485 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].

Category:Children of Greek river gods Category:LGBTQ themes in Greek mythology Category:Metamorphoses into plants in Greek mythology Category:Suicides in Greek mythology Category:Suicides by drowning