Larvae
50560
222417022
2008-06-29T06:34:07Z
86.27.182.3
/* Trivia */ not relevant
{{Otheruses4|spirits of the dead|the juvenile form of animals with indirect development|Larva}}
{{Roman myth (minor)}}
In [[Roman mythology]], the '''larvae''' or '''lemures''' (singular ''lemur'') were the spectres or spirits of the dead; they were the malignant version of the ''[[lares]]''. Some Roman writers describe ''lemures'' as the common name for all the spirits of the dead, and divide them into two classes: the ''lares'', or the benevolent souls of the family, which haunted and guarded the ''domus'' or household, and the ''larvae'', or the restless and fearful souls of wicked men. But the more common idea was that the Lemures and Larvae were the same. They were said to wander about at night and to torment and frighten the living.
On [[May 9]], [[May 11|11]], and [[May 13|13]], the ''Lemuralia'' or ''[[Lemuria (festival)|Lemuria]]'', the feast of the Lemures, occurred, when black [[bean]]s were offered to the Larvae in the hopes of propitiating them; loud noises were also used to frighten them away.
[[Lemur]]s were so named by [[Carolus Linnaeus|Linnaeus]] for their big eyes, nocturnal habits and unearthly noises they make at night. Some species of lemur were identified by their calls before scientists had seen individuals.
==Singular==
The singular form of ''larvae'' is ''larva'' in both [[Latin language|Latin]] and [[English language|English]]. The singular of ''lemures'' is ''lemur'' in both languages;<ref>''OED'', "Lemur"</ref> [[Dungeons & Dragons]] and some other fantasy worlds have adopted the [[back formation]] ''lemure'' as the singular, following English [[singularization]] rules and therefore presumably pronounced as ''demure'', ''immure'', etc.
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:Undead]]
[[de:Larvae]]
[[el:Λεμούρια]]
[[fr:Lémure]]
[[it:Lèmures]]
[[lt:Larvai]]
[[nl:Lemures]]
[[no:Lemurer (gjenferd)]]
[[pl:Lémur]]
[[ru:Лярва]]
[[sv:Larvae]]
[[uk:Лемури (міфологія)]]