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Kalmar, municipality of (Sweden)

Kalmar kommun

Last modified: 2021-08-25 by christopher oehler
Keywords: calmar | kalmar | kalmar union | castle | stars: two (red) |
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[Flag
image by Lokal Profil and António Martins-Tuválkin, 30 December 2010
the flag is a banner of arms; arms dating from the Middle Ages


See also:


Municipality of Kalmar

The flag of the municipality of Kalmar (in English sometimes spelled Calmar) can be seen at ftj.se . It is a banner of the arms of Kalmar. Kalmar is a very old town, and the arms are the oldest known municipal arms in Sweden, from the 13th Century or so. According to some sources, Kalmar was for a short time a member of the Hansa and Kalmar was also the site were the treaty of the Union of Kalmar was made between Denmark, Sweden and Norway (hence the name of the union). Kalmar is the county capital of the County of Kalmar (Kalmar län).
Elias Granqvist, 20 December 2006

As I had mentioned, I had seen both being used in English, but more often with the K spelling. Having a vague sense that the C spelling might have been encountered more often in older works, I did a little checking at Google Books.
I compared the words Calmar Sweden with Kalmar Sweden for English-language books published for 3 time periods. The results:
1700 to 1900 with C- 9,090 -- with K- 3,190
1901 to 1950 with C- 1,990 -- with K- 8,980
1951 to 2010 with C- 1,680 -- with K- 30,600

So, yes Calmar was once the preferred English spelling, but by at least a 30 to 1 margin it no longer is that. It might still qualify as an acceptable variant, but if so it would be by the skin of its teeth. If it is not yet totally obsolete, it will be soon. So my recommendation would definitely be Kalmar for the webpage.
Ned Smith, 6 January 2011


Variant of flag

[Flag
image by Lokal Profil and António Martins-Tuválkin, 30 December 2010