Derivation of "Calamity"

"Calamity" is from the Latin calamitas, from calamus a straw or stalk of corn, signifying, 1st, the agricultural misfortune of the corn being beaten down or laid by a storm; and thence, any other trouble or disaster:— "Ipsa egreditur nostri fundi calamitas." Ter. Eun. i. 1. Upon which the commentator in the Delph. ed. has this note:— "*Calamitas* est grando et tempestas, quæ calamos segetum prosternit et conterit. Unde Cicero Verrem vocat '*calamitosam tempestatem*.'" Ainsworth, quoting the above passage from Terence, adds:— "Ubi Donatus. Proprie *calamitatem* rustici vocant quod comminuat cal…