Etymology Dictionary

CALM,  tranquil, quiet; as sb., repose.  (F.,—Gk.)   M.E. calme, Gower, C. A. iii. 230.—F. calme, 'calm, still;' Cot.   He does not give it as a substantive, but in mod. F. it is both adj. and sb.   β. The l is no real part of the word, though appearing in Ital., Span., and Portuguese; it seems to have been inserted, as Diez suggests, through the influence of the Lat. calor, heat, the notions of 'heat' and 'rest' being easily brought together.   γ. The mod. Provençal chaume signifies 'the time when the flocks rest;' cf. F. chômer, formerly chaumer, to rest, to be without work; see chômer in Brachet.   δ. Derived from Low Lat. cauma, the heat of the sun; on which Maigne D'Arnis remarks, in his edition of Ducange, that it answers to the Languedoc caumas or calimas, excessive heat; a remark which shews that Diez is right.—Gk. καῦμα, great heat.—Gk. καίειν, to burn; from Gk. ✔ΚΑΥ, to burn.   Possibly E. heat is related to the same root; Curtius, i. 178.   Der. calm-ly, calm-ness. [†]

ADDENDA

Cf. Port. calma, heat.   It deserves to be added that the Low Lat. cauma, heat, must have been familiarised to many by its occurrence in the Vulgate version of Job xxx. 30.