lemur

See also: Lemur, lémur, and lemúr

English

Ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta)

Etymology

From Latin lemurēs pl (“spirits of the dead”). The name was originally given to the slender loris (then Lemur tardigradus) in 1754 by Carl Linnaeus. According to Linnaeus, the name was selected because of the nocturnal activity and slow movements of the slender loris. In 1758, Linnaeus added—among others—the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) to the genus Lemur. All other species, including the slender loris, were eventually moved to other genera. In time, the word became the colloquial name for all primates endemic to Madagascar.[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈliːmə(ɹ)/
  • Rhymes: -iːmə(r)
  • Homophone: Lima (in non-rhotic accents)

Noun

lemur (plural lemurs)

  1. (colloquial) Any strepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea, native only to Madagascar and some surrounding islands.
  2. The genus Lemur, represented by the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta).
    • 1758, Linnaeus, C., Systema Naturæ‎, volume 1, 10 edition, Stockholm, Sweden: Laurentius Salvius, pages 29–30:
  3. (obsolete) The genus for a loris (Lemur tardigradus, now Loris tardigradus), predating the 10th edition of Systema Naturæ.
    • 1754, Linnaeus, C., Museum Adolphi Friderici Regis‎, Stockholm, Sweden: Typographia Regia, page 3–4:
      "Lemures dixi hos, quod noctu imprimis obambulant, hominibus quodanmodo similes, & lento passu vagantur."
      [I call them lemurs, because they go around mainly by night, in a certain way similar to humans, and roam with a slow pace.]

Usage notes

The taxonomy is currently disputed, see Taxonomy of lemurs on Wikipedia.Wikipedia .

Derived terms

Translations

References

  1. ↑ A. R. Dunkel; J. S. Zijlstra; C. P. Groves (2011/2012), “Giant Rabbits, Marmosets, and British Comedies: Etymology of Lemur Names, Part 1”, in Lemur News‎, volume 16, retrieved 11 April 2013, pages 64–70.

Further reading

Czech

Noun

lemur m

  1. lemur

Derived terms

Further reading

  • lemur in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
  • lemur in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

Icelandic

Verb

lemur (weak)

  1. second-person singular present indicative of lemja
  2. third-person singular present indicative of lemja

Polish

Noun

lemur m anim

  1. lemur (primate)

Declension

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /lěmuːr/
  • Hyphenation: le‧mur

Noun

lèmūr m (Cyrillic spelling лѐмӯр)

  1. lemur

Declension

Swedish

Noun

lemur c

  1. a lemur

Declension

Declension of lemur 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative lemur lemuren lemurer lemurerna
Genitive lemurs lemurens lemurers lemurernas
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.