Etymology

calamander

cal·a·man·der
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Today it means: A wood from India and Sri Lanka, of a hazel-brown color, with black stripes, very hard in texture. It is a kind of ebony obtained from species of Diospyros, especially Diospyros quaesita, used to make furniture. Full definition →

Sinhalese [script needed] ← Dutch kalamanderhout
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The story

  1. Dutch · borrowed fromkalamanderhout
  2. Sinhalese · derived fromකළු“black”
  3. Sinhalese · borrowed from[script needed]
  4. English todaycalamander

From Sinhalese [script needed] (kaḷu-madīriya), perhaps from Coromandel ebony (see coromandel), changed by association with Sinhalese කළු (kaḷu, “black”); or perhaps a metathetic variant of coromandel via Dutch kalamanderhout.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.