calypso

Etymology 1

Originally Trinidad English, an alteration of kaiso, perhaps ultimately of African origin; Allsopp 1996 suggests Ibibio ka iso (“come on”), used to urge dancers on. The spelling reflects a later folk-etymological assimilation with the mythological name Calypso.

noun

1. A style of Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago during the early to the mid-19th century and spread to the rest of the Caribbean Antilles and Venezuela by the mid-20th century. Its rhythms can be traced back to West African Kaiso and the arrival of French planters and their slaves from the French Antilles in the 18th century.
   'How you does live, Mr. Wordsworth?' I asked him one day. He said, 'You mean how I get money?' When I nodded, he laughed in a crooked way. He said, 'I sing calypsoes in the calypso season.' 'And that last you the rest of the year?' 'It is enough.' 1959, V. S. Naipaul, “B. Wordsworth”, in Miguel Street

verb

1. (intransitive) To perform calypso.

Etymology 2

)]] From Latin, itself from Ancient Greek Καλυψώ (Kalupsṓ, “name of a sea nymph”) Wikispecies

noun

1. A bulbous bog orchid of the genus Calypso, Calypso bulbosa
2. A light blue color.
   calypso: