lemur

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈliːmə(ɹ)/^[1]

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin Lemur, the genus name given by Carl Linnaeus,^[2][3][4][1] from Latin lemurēs (“spirits of the dead, ghosts”).^{[2][5][6][3][4][1]} The Latin word is of uncertain origin; de Vaan thinks it and Greek lamia were probably borrowed from a non-Indo-European word for malevolent spirits.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In English lemures first meant the spirits of the dead in Roman religion (1555).^[7]

Semantic evolution

Linnaeus explained that he called these animals lemurs because they go about mainly at night, look somewhat human, and roam with a slow pace;^[4] the name alludes to their ghostly appearance and nocturnal habits.^[2][3] Wiktionary notes that he first gave the name in 1754 to the red slender loris, and added the ring-tailed lemur in 1758; the other species were later moved to other genera, and the word became the general name for the primates of Madagascar.^[1] In English the zoological sense is recorded from 1795.^[7][3][5][4]

Timeline

• 1555 – “spirits of the dead”, in Roman religion.^[7]
• 1754 – Linnaeus names the red slender loris Lemur.^[1]
• 1795 – English, the animal.^[7][3][5][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Any of various tree-dwelling, mostly nocturnal primates of Madagascar and nearby islands, with large eyes, a long muzzle and a long tail.
2. (Roman religion) In the plural, lemures: the restless spirits of the dead.

Word family

• lemurlike
• lemuroid

Related words

• lemures
• lamia
• loris
• ghost

References

1. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. [1] [2] [3] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. [1] [2] [3] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. [1] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. [1] [2] [3] [4] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press