Etymologically
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larva

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈɫaːr.wa][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈlar.va], [ˈɫaː.ru.a][1]

Forms

lārva f (genitive lārvae); first declension[1] In Plautus the older spelling larua is scanned as three syllables.[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[4][1] De Vaan finds a link with Lār, the household god, through an older form *lās-, attractive in meaning,[4][5] though the difference in vowel length is unexplained.[1] The OLD compares Lār too,[2] and Varro and Servius already derived it from that word.[6] The TLL suggests it may be an Etruscan word.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards,[4][7] who writes of a man driven mad, larvae stimulant virum, “ghosts are goading the man”.[8]

Semantic evolution

It meant an evil spirit or ghost, and Plautus also used it as an insult, “you spook!”[8][3] By transfer it was a frightful mask, as in Horace,[3][9] and Petronius uses it for a jointed skeleton figure brought out at a banquet.[9][1] Medieval writers used it for demons and goblins.[10][11][12]

English took it for a ghost in the 1630s, but this sense was crowded out after Linnaeus applied it in 1768 to the young forms of animals that do not look like, and so “mask”, the adult.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for ghosts and as an insult.[8][7]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it for a mask.[3][7]
  • before 66 AD – Petronius uses it for a skeleton figure at a feast.[9][7]
  • 1630s – English borrows it for a ghost.[5]
  • 1768 – Linnaeus applies it to the immature forms of animals.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An evil spirit, ghost, spectre.[2][8]
  2. (as an insult) Spook, scarecrow.[8][3]
  3. A frightful mask.[3][9]
  4. A skeleton figure (shown at banquets).[9][1]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A demon.[10][12]

Word family

  • lārvālis
  • lārvō

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes larva, a frightful, caricatured mask, from persona, a skilfully made mask representing a character.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  10. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  11. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b Novum Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis ab anno DCCC usque ad annum MCC (1957–), Copenhagen / Geneva / Paris: Union Académique Internationale; IRHT
  13. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper