Words, Words, Words – What do they tell us?
Recently, after reading something about a “calceolus type of Angraecum”, I thought I should look up what that is. And then I got very confused, even more so than my usual state!
Looking in Dr. H. Mayr’s “Orchid Names and their Meanings”, I found that: calceolus = small slipper, a diminutive of calceus (Latin) = shoe. What? I thought that the syllable ‘calc’ has to do with calcium, like lime, limestone etc. Out comes Webster’s Dictionary: calc, calx and calk, these words all have to do with the heel of a foot; it can be from a human, mammalian or bird foot, even a horse’s hoof. BUT! Calc, calx and calk also denote lime, something resembling calcite or calcium carbonate - (Ahh! here it comes) - especially in hardness. You see? Limestone is hard, so is a heel bone; is this the connection? It must be. Now I get it.
 Cypripedium parviflorum var pubescens |
Cypripedium calceolus in proper translation means “Cyprus Slipper Heel”. How astute are the taxonomists! The flower is a slipper heel! Or is it a heel slipper?
The Cypripedium part comes from the fact that the island of Cyprus was dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite (in Roman: Venus). Earlier, the slipper was just a “Lady’s Slipper”; who knows what lady was involved! When Christianity was introduced, Venus had to go, now, that lady was said to be St. Mary.
Of course, the word Paphiopedilum has the same origin, except that in this case, the island in question is Paphos, also sacred to Aphrodite; and guess what ‘pedilum’ means? Why, of course, it means “Little Slipper”. It does not mean that these plants need lime in their growing medium! The word ‘calcareous’ denotes relationship with lime. But I don’t know if there is any specific plant epithet of that word. Our Angraecum calceolus shows a pouched lip on the photograph. There you go. Aren’t you glad it was raining this afternoon and I had time to poke around in my books?
[Note: Today Cyp. calceolus is the name given to the Eurasian yellow species, while the North American ones are Cyp. parviflorum]
Ingrid Schmidt-Ostrander - Canadian Orchid Congress