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gerrymander: gerrymander: [19] The story goes that in 1812 the governor of Massachusetts, Elbridge Gerry, instituted some electoral boundary changes favourable to his party, the Democrats. When a painter named Stuart saw these outlined on a map in the office of a newspaper editor, he remarked that the resulting area resembled a salamander in shape. ‘A gerrymander, you mean!’ replied the editor – and the term caught on for ‘unfair manipulation of constituency boundaries’.
commander (n.): early 14c., comandur, from Old French comandeor, from comander (see command (v.)). Commander in chief attested from 1650s.
gerrymander (v.): 1812, "arrange political divisions in disregard of natural boundaries so as to give one party an advantage in elections," also from 1812 as a noun, American English, from name of Elbridge Gerry + (sala)mander. Gerry, governor of Massachusetts, was lampooned when his party redistricted the state in a blatant bid to preserve an Antifederalist majority. One sprawling Essex County district resembled a salamander, and a newspaper editor dubbed it the Gerrymander. Related: Gerrymandered; gerrymandering.
[T]he division of this county into districts has given an opportunity for a Caracatura stamped at Boston and freely circulated here called the Gerrymander. The towns as they lie are disposed as parts of a monster whose feet and claws are Salem and Marblehead. It is one of those political tricks which have success as far as they go. [William Bentley, diary, April 2, 1812]
salamander (n.): mid-14c., "legendary lizard-like creature that can live in fire," from Old French salamandre "legendary fiery beast," also "cricket" (12c.), from Latin salamandra, from Greek salamandra, probably of eastern origin.

The application in zoology to a tailed amphibian (known natively as an eft or newt) is first recorded 1610s. Aristotle, and especially Pliny, are responsible for the fiction of an animal that thrives in and extinguishes fires. The eft lives in damp logs and secretes a milky substance when threatened, but there is no obvious natural explanation its connection with the myth.

Also used 18c. for "a woman who lives chastely in the midst of temptations" (after Addison), and "a soldier who exposes himself to fire in battle." To rub someone a salamander was a 19c. form of German student drinking toast (einem einen salamander reiben). Related: Salamandrine; salamandroid.
pomander: "A ball or perforated container of aromatic substances, placed in a cupboard or room to perfume the air or (formerly) carried as a supposed protection against infection", Late 15th century: from Old French pome d'embre, from medieval Latin pomum de ambra 'apple of ambergris'.