Kalamos

Kalamos (Greek: Κάλαμος; Latin: Calamus) is an ancient Greek word meaning reed or reed pen. The basis for this meaning is the story of the Greek mythological figure Kalamos, son of Maiandros (god of the Maeander river).

Greek mythology

A story in Nonnus's Dionysiaca tells about the love of two youths, Kalamos and Karpos, the son of Zephyrus and Chloris. 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.

Walt Whitman's "Calamus" poems in Leaves of Grass may have been inspired by this story.

Etymology of the word Kalamos

Similar words can be found in Sanskrit (kalama, meaning "reed" and "pen" as well as a type of rice), Hebrew (kulmus, meaning quill) and Latin (calamus). These words are most likely derived from the ancient Greek term kalamos. The Arabic word قلم qalam (meaning "pen" or "reed pen") is likely to have been borrowed from one of these languages in antiquity. The Swahili word kalamu ("pen") comes from the Arabic qalam.

Kalamos (disambiguation)

Kalamos can refer to:

See also

Kalamos (island)

Kálamos (Greek: Κάλαμος, known in antiquity as Καρνος - Karnos), is a mountainous island and a former community in the Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lefkada, of which it is a municipal unit. It lies east of Lefkada, near the Greek mainland. It has an overwintering population of around 500 people, which is swelled substantially in the summer by tourists. The name Kalamos means reed in Greek. Its population was 496 at the 2011 census. The land area is 24.964 km² (9.639 sq mi), and its highest point is 754 m (2,474 ft) above sea level.

The main settlement on the island is the port town of Kálamos (pop. 454), on the east coast of the island. From here a regular ferry service connects the island to Mytikas on the mainland. Episkopi (pop. 42) is the only other inhabited village on the island. The village of Kefali, also known by its Venetian name Porto Leone was abandoned following the 1953 Ionian earthquake, which destroyed the water supply, but its church is still in use.