Re: Request for Insights: Terminology

 

I think Kathleen's suggestion makes the most sense so far, given the direct tie to Belgium. The suffix -aria converts nouns to adjectives, so it's probably not named for the place, but for the calamine in the soil there, basically "calaminey." As best I can tell the other calamina already means "reed-like", not "reed", so it wouldn't make sense to add another suffix to it. Plus, I can't really imagine someone naming an iris "reed-like".

Calamina (the chemical) is said to have been "corrupted by alchemists" from the original cadmina, so we can blame them for the confusion.

Calamina (reed-like) has given rise to a few obsolete English words like calaminstrate, to curl hair (by wrapping it around reed stems, of course).

Sean Z

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