Online Etymology Dictionary

calcification: c.1850, noun of action from calcify).
calcified: 1836, pp. adj. from calcify.
calcify: 1854, from stem of L. calcem "lime" + -fy.
calcite: 1849, from L. calcem "lime" + mineral suffix -ite.
calcitrant: 1866, from L. calcitrantem "kicking" (see recalcitrant). Pedantic humor.
calcium: coined 1808 by Sir Humphry Davy from L. calx (gen. calcis) "limestone."
calculate: 1570, "to compute, to estimate by mathematical means;" see calculation. Meaning "to plan, devise" is from 1654.
calculated: 1863, "devised beforehand," pp. adj. from calculate. Earlier, "suited, apt" (1722).
calculating: 1710, "carrying out calculations," from calculate. Meaning "shrewdly or selfishly seeking advantage" is attested from c.1810.
calculation: 1393, from L.L. calculationem, from calculare, from L. calculus "reckoning, account," originally "pebble used in counting," dim. of calx (gen. calcis) "limestone."
calculator: late 14c., "one who calculates" (see calculation). Of mechanical adding machine contraptions, from 1784. Of electronic ones, from 1946.
"Electronic calculator uses 18,000 tubes to solve complex problems" ["Scientific American" headline, June 1946]
calculus: 1666, from L. calculus "reckoning, account," originally "pebble used in counting," dim. of calx (gen. calcis) "limestone." Modern mathematical sense is a shortening of differential calculus. Also used from 1732 to mean "concretion occurring accidentally in the animal body," as dental plaque, kidney stones, etc.
Calcutta: city in eastern India, named for Hindu goddess Kali.
caldera: 1865, "cavity on the summit of a volcano," from Sp. caldera "cauldron, kettle," from L. caldarium, from caldarius "pertaining to warming," from calidus "warm, hot" (see calorie).
caldron: spelling of cauldron prefered by other dictionary editors.
Caleb: masc. proper name, in the Bible, one of the 12 men sent by Moses to reconnoiter Canaan, from Heb. Kalebh, lit. "dog-like," from kelebh "dog."
Caledonia: Roman name of part of northern Britain; since 18c, applied poetically to Scotland or the Scottish Highlands.
calendar: c.1200, from O.Fr. calendier "list, register," from L. calendarium "account book," from kalendae "calends" the first day of the Roman month -- when debts fell due and accounts were reckoned -- from calare "to announce solemnly, call out," as the priests did in proclaiming the new moon that marked the calends, from PIE base kele- "to call, shout" (see claim). "Taken by the early Church for its register list of saints and their feast days. The -ar spelling in Eng. is 17c. to differentiate it from the now obscure calender "cloth-presser."
calender (v.): "to pass through a calender," a machine which smooths and presses paper, cloth, etc., 1513, from Fr. calandre, the machine name, from M.L. calendra, so called from the shape of the machine used, from L. cylindrus, from Gk. kylindros "roll, cylinder" (see cylinder).
calf: O.E. cealf "young cow," from W.Gmc. *kalbam, perh. from PIE *gelb(h)-, from base *gel- "to swell," hence, "womb, fetus, young of an animal." Elliptical sense of "leather made from the skin of a calf" is from 1727. Used of icebergs that break off from glaciers from 1818. Calf of the leg is from O.N. kalfr, source unknown; possibly from the same Gmc. root.
caliber: 1567, from M.Fr. calibre, via Sp. or It., ult. from Arabic qalib "a mold, last," perhaps from Gk. kalopodion "a shoemaker's last," lit. "little wooden foot," from kalon "wood" + podos gen. of pous "foot" (see foot). Arabic also used the word in the sense "mold for casting bullets," which is the original lit. meaning in Eng., though the earliest cited sense is the fig. one of "social standing, quality, rank." Calibrate is attested from 1864.
calibrate: 1864, verb formed from caliber. The pp. adj. calibrated is recorded from 1869; calibrating is from 1870; calibration from 1871.
calibre: British spelling of caliber (q.v.); for suffix, see -re.
calice: early form of chalice (q.v.).
caliche: sodium nitrate deposits in Chile and Peru, 1858, from Amer.Sp., from Sp. caliche "pebble in a brick."
calico: 1540, corruption of Calicut (mod. Kozhikode), seaport on Malabar coast of India, where Europeans first obtained it. In 16c. it was second only to Goa among Indian commercial ports for European trade. Extended to animal colorings suggestive of printed calicos in 1807, originally of horses.
calid: 1599, from L. calidus "warm," from PIE base *kele- "warm" (see calorie).
California: name of an imaginary realm in "Las sergas de Esplandián" ("Exploits of Espladán"), a romance by Sp. writer Garci Ordóñez de Montalvo, published in 1510, which was said to have been influential among Sp. explorers of the New World and may have led them to misidentify Baja California as this land and mistake it for an island. Where Montalvo got the name and what it means, if anything, is a mystery. Californian is attested from 1785.
caliginous: 1540s, from L. caliginosus "misty," from caliginem "mistiness, darkness, gloom."
caligraphy: alt. spelling of calligraphy.
Caligula: cognomen of the third Roman emperor (12 C.E.-41 C.E.), born Gaius Caesar. The nickname is lit. "little boot," given when he joined his father on military campaigns when still a toddler, in full, child-sized military gear.
caliper: 1627, short for calliper compass (1588), a device used to measure caliber (q.v.).
caliph: 1393, from Arabic khalifa "successor," originally Abu-Bakr, who succeeded Muhammad in the role of leader of the faithful after the prophet's death. Caliphate "dominion of a caliph" is from 1614.
caliphate: "dominion of a caliph," 1614, see caliph. Meaning "rank of a caliph" is recorded from 1753.
calisthenics: 1839, formed on model of Fr. callisthenie, from Gk. kallos "beauty" + sthenos "strength." Originally, gymnastic exercises suitable for girls and meant to develop the figure; training calculated to develop the figure and promote graceful movement. The proper Gk., if there was such a word in Gk., would have been kallistheneia.
call (v.): O.E. ceallian, less common than clipian; replaced by related O.N. kalla "to cry loudly," from P.Gmc. *kallojanan, from PIE base *gal- "to call, scream, shriek, shout" (cf. Skt. garhati "bewail, criticize;" L. gallus "cock;" O.H.G. klaga, Ger. Klage "complaint, grievance, lament, accusation;" O.E. clacu "affront;" O.C.S. glasu "voice," glagolu "word;" Welsh galw "call"). Meaning "to give a name to" is c.1250. Coin-toss sense is from 1801. Meaning "to visit" (M.E.) was literally "to stand at the door and call;" sense of "a short formal visit" is from 1862. Telephone/telegraph sense is from 1889. Calling "vocation" (1382) traces to I Cor. vii:20. To call out someone to fight (1823) corresponds to Fr. provoqueur. To call it a day is from 1834.
call girl: "prostitute who makes appointments by phone," c.1900, from call + girl.
caller: "1502, one who proclaims, from call. Meaning "one who announces step changes at a dance" is recorded from 1882; one who places a telephone call," 1898. Meaning "a social visitor" is attested from 1786.
calligraphy: 1613, from Gk. kaligraphia, from kallos "beauty" + graphein "to write" (see graph).
calliope: 1858, "steam-whistle keyboard organ," in allusion to Calliope, ninth and chief muse of eloquence and epic poetry, from Gk. Kalliope, from kalli-, combining form of kallos "beauty" + opos (gen. of *ops) "voice."
callipygian: "of, pertaining to, or having beautiful buttocks," 1800, from Gk. kallipygos, name of a statue of Aphrodite, from kalli-, combining form of kallos "beauty" + pyge "rump, buttocks." Sir Thomas Browne (1646) refers to "Callipygæ and women largely composed behinde."
Callisto: 2nd moon of Jupiter, in classical mythology a nymph, mother of Arcas by Zeus, turned to a bear by Hera, from Gk. kallistos, superl. of kalos "beautiful." Feminized as proper name Callista.
callithumpian: 1836, U.S. colloquial, probably a fanciful construction at one time designating a society of social reformers, then in reference to "noisy disturbers of elections and meetings," and most commonly "a band of discordant instruments."
callosal: "pertaining to the corpus callosum," 1868, from L. callosus.
callous (adj.): 1578, "hardened," in the physical sense, from L. callosus "thick-skinned," from callum "hard skin" (see callus). The figurative sense of "unfeeling" appeared in Eng. 1679.
callow: O.E. calu "bare, bald," prob. from W.Gmc. *kalwaz, perhaps from L. or Celt. From young birds with no feathers, meaning extended to any young inexperienced thing or creature (1580).
callus (n.): 1563, from L., var. of callum "hard skin," related to callere "be hard," and cognate with Skt. kalika "bud," O.Ir. calath "hard."
calm: late 14c., from O.Fr. calme, traditionally from O.It. calma, from L.L. cauma "heat of the mid-day sun" (in Italy, a time when everything rests and is still), from Gk. kauma "heat" (especially of the sun), from kaiein "to burn." Spelling infl. by L. calere "to be hot." Figurative application to social or mental conditions is 16c.
calomel: 1676, "mercurous chloride," from Fr. calomel, supposedly from Gk. kalos "fair" + melas "black," but as the powder is yellowish-white this seems difficult.
Calor: proprietary name for a type of liquid gas sold in Britain, 1936, from L. calor, lit. "heat" (see calorie).