קַלְמָר (kalmar) — pencil case
Etymology
The word קַלְמָר has a remarkably long and winding history that passes through Greek, Latin, Italian, and medieval Hebrew before arriving at the pencil cases of modern Israeli schoolchildren.
It begins with the Hebrew word עֵט (pen), which appears four times in Jeremiah and once in Job. Its etymology is obscure, but the kalem (stylus) tradition was displaced when Alexander the Great's conquests in the 4th century BCE spread Greek across the Near East. The Greek word kálamos (κάλαμος) was the name of the common reed (Phragmites australis), but — just as Hebrew qaneh (reed) extended to many reed-shaped objects — kálamos in Greek came to name various reed-derived items, including writing instruments. This Greek word entered Hebrew as קֻּלְמוּס (kulmus) in Talmudic literature, displacing עֵט, and was also borrowed into Arabic as qalam — still the standard Arabic word for pen today.
Hellenistic writers stored their kalamoi in special boxes called kalamárion. The Talmudic sages called these קַלְמָרִין (kalmarín). Since writing also required ink, these boxes were often divided into compartments — one for reeds, one or more for ink. The Mishnah mentions "the fitted kalmarin" (kalmarín ha-mutémet, Kelim 2:7), probably a reference to such a divided case.
The Romans adopted the Greek kálamos and its container kalamárion, Latinizing the latter to calamarius. Over time, because Roman calamarii regularly contained inkwells, the word shifted to mean "inkwell" rather than "pen box." As Latin evolved into the Romance languages, calamarius became Italian calamari — and since squid naturally contain ink, the word was also applied to the sea creature (hence the calamari on restaurant menus today).
The 11th-century Talmudic lexicographer Nathan of Rome wrote his great dictionary He-Arukh in Italy. Not knowing Greek, he did not recognize that the suffix -ín in kalmarín was the Talmudic plural ending — he thought the base word was simply kalmar. Moreover, the semantic shift in Italian (from pen box to inkwell) led him to define kalmar not as a pen box but as an inkwell.
In 1894, a Hebrew teacher from Białystok named Yehiel Yitzhak Inditzky published a Hebrew language textbook called HaMekhanekh and searched for a Hebrew word for inkwell. He found kalmar in He-Arukh and adopted it — the fact that it resembled the Polish word for inkwell (kałamarz) probably reinforced his choice. But his revival did not catch on: Hebrew already had the word קֶסֶת (keset) for inkwell.
קֶסֶת is a biblical hapax legomenon appearing three times in Ezekiel 9 ("the keset of the scribe at his waist"). Its etymology is unknown, though traditionally connected to the word qashwa (a type of bowl used in Temple service). The medieval lexicographer David Kimhi defined it as "a container for ink," and Haskalah writers adopted it for inkwell. David Yellin, a Jerusalem Hebrew teacher, introduced kalmar in the current sense — pencil case — around the turn of the 20th century, effectively giving the word a new life.
The article about קַלְמָר also covers other stationery items: עִפָּרוֹן (pencil), coined by the historian Yosef Klausner in 1896 from "lead pen" (et oferet) plus the biblical personal name Efron; מְחַדֵּד (pencil sharpener, from root ח.ד.ד — to sharpen, biblical hapax in Habakkuk); מַחַק (eraser, from root מ.ח.ק — to erase, attested in Talmudic usage and Judges 5:26); and סַרְגֵּל (ruler, from Latin regula via a Talmudic Aramaic verb, with the noun form coined by Yehuda Grazovsky/Gur in 1895).
Key Quotes
"קַלְמָרִין הַמֻּתְאֶמֶת" — Mishnah Kelim 2:7 (the fitted pen box)
"קֶסֶת הַסֹּפֵר בְּמָתְנָיו" — Ezekiel 9:2 (the scribe's inkwell at his waist)
Timeline
- 4th century BCE: Greek kálamos (reed pen) displaces native Hebrew עֵט
- Mishnaic period: קֻּלְמוּס (from Greek) becomes standard Hebrew for pen; קַלְמָרִין used for pen box
- Ancient Rome: Latin calamarius shifts meaning from pen box to inkwell
- 11th century: Nathan of Rome's He-Arukh defines קַלְמָר as inkwell (based on Italian semantic shift)
- 1894: Inditzky tries to revive kalmar as Hebrew for inkwell — fails
- c. 1900: David Yellin introduces kalmar as Hebrew for pencil case
- 1896: Klausner coins עִפָּרוֹן (pencil)
- 1895: Gur coins סַרְגֵּל (ruler)
Related Words
- קֻלְמוּס — pen (from Greek kálamos; used in Mishnah and Talmud)
- קֶסֶת — inkwell (biblical hapax, Ezekiel 9; the word kalmar was originally meant to replace it)
- עֵט — pen (biblical; revived in Modern Hebrew)
- עִפָּרוֹן — pencil (coined 1896 by Klausner)
- מְחַדֵּד — pencil sharpener (from root ח.ד.ד)
- מַחַק — eraser (from root מ.ח.ק; Talmudic)
- סַרְגֵּל — ruler (from Latin regula; coined 1895 by Gur)