From: The Egyptian Chronicles
Message: 62759
Date: 2009-02-02
First: If Lat. calamus means reed or cane, a pen, a reed pipe, and an arrow, and is considered strictly Indo-European (a LW from .Greek καλάμι kalamos), then this latter assumption is faulty.Classical Arabic, a non Indo-European language, has qlm قلم (qalam) which has exactly the same range of meanings: reed, the common Arabic name for writing reed, shuffling arrows in the Arabian "Maysar" (sortilege), a reed pipe. The term is widely used in the Qur'an. For comparison of the Latin and Arabic definitions see fig #2
Second: In the following Germanic dictionary, Lat. calamus is considered a cognate to halma, halm, NE. haulm (straw, stalk of grass).halma m. Halm. an. halmr m. Halm, Stroh; as. halm, ags. healm m., engl. halm, haulm; ahd. mhd. halm m., nhd. Halm. Vgl. lett. salms Halm; asl. slama f. dass. - gr. [ka'lamos] Rohr, [kala'mh] Halm. - lat. culmus Halm. - acymr. calamennou (gl. culmos), ncymr. calaf f. »calamus« . - skr. çalâka Halm, Reis, auch Span, Splitter, Rute, vgl. ir. cuilc Rohr, Schilf (ans kolki). Zur ig. Wz. el spitz sein. S. hel 4.HEALM, es; n. I. HAULM, straw, stem or stalk of grass, stalk of a plant :-- Healm culmus, Ælfc. Gl. 59; Som. 67, 127; Wrt. Voc. 38, 49. Healmes láf stipulæ, Som. 67, 129; Wrt. Voc. 38, 51. Gán and gadrion him sylfe ðæt healm let them go and gather straw for themselves, Ex. 5, 7. Swá windes healm sicut stipulam ante faciem venti, Ps. Th. 82, 10. Genim rigen healm and beren take rye and barley straw, L. M. 1, 72; Lchdm. ii. 148, 11. II. a roof of straw[?] :-- Ciricsceat mon sceal ágifan tó ðam healme and tó ðam heorþe ðe se mon on biþ tó middum wintra ciricsceattum, debet reddere homo a culmine et mansione, ubi residens erit in Natali, L. In. 61; Th. i. 140, 13. [Prompt. Parv. halm stipula: Icel. hálmr; m. straw: O. H. Ger. halm; m. culmus, calamus, stipula, festuca: Ger. halm: Grk. &alpha-tonos;os a reed.]HÁLMR, m. [A. S. healm; Engl. haulm; Germ. and Dan. halm; Gr. GREEK; Lat. calamus] :-- straw, Stj. 201, 390, 560, N. G. L. i. 38, Eg. 205, 213, 560, Fms. ii. 3, 208, vi. 153, ix. 44; mar-hálmr, seaweed.helma, u, f. [hálmr], a haulm, straw, Stj. 397 (ax-helma).This claim can be disproved if compared with Classical Arabic hlm حلم (halam), which has the same meaning. For comparison of the O.E. and Classical Arabic definitions see fig # 1Third: In Welsh, Calaf has two precise definitions: 1) reed (s) n.f. (calafon/calafau); 2) stalk(s) n.f. (calafon/calafau). These correspond to the Classical Arabic glf جلفCompare the Welsh term with the Arabic term glf, which refers to the hollow jointed stalks of a coarse, reed or grass growing in marshy places or standing corn, barley and or wheat in the field. These reeds were often used as reed pens. The dried reed is cut diagonally with a penknife and the point thus formed is carefully shaved thin to make it flexible and the nib split as in the modern pen. The portion of the reed pen between the beginning of the paring and its point is also called galfa-h. The last operation is the clipping off of the point of the reed pen so that it becomes a stub pen. Hence, in addition, glf جلف is also an Arabic verb used for clipping, peeling, scraping off, stripping and cleaving, which incidentally corresponds to :GLYPH : 1727, from Fr. glyphe (1701), from Gk. glyphe "a carving," from glyphein "to hollow out, engrave, carve" (cognate with L. glubere "to peel, shell," and O.E. cleofan "to cleave"). See fig # 3Conclusion: In Arabic, a Semitic language, the three terms "qlm", "hlm", and "glf" are not linked, they are simply synonyms.At best, this simple test throws a shadow of doubt on the Indo-European's assumption linking calamus, halm and calaf. For the skeptics who would consider that my proposed Arabic correspondences are pure coincidence, they will still have to grapple with a persuasive explanation for the perfect match between the Arabic qalam قلم and Latin calamus.IshinanFeb. 2nd, 2009---------------------------------------------------