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Webster 1913 Edition

Lemur

Le′mur

(lē′mŭr)
,
Noun.
[L., a ghost, specter. So called on account of its habit of going abroad by night.]
(Zool.)
One of a family (
Lemuridæ
) of nocturnal mammals allied to the monkeys, but of small size, and having a sharp and foxlike muzzle, and large eyes. They feed upon birds, insects, and fruit, and are mostly natives of Madagascar and the neighboring islands, one genus (
Galago
) occurring in Africa. The slow lemur or
kukang
of the East Indies is
Nycticebus tardigradus
. See
Galago
,
Indris
, and
Colugo
.

Webster 1828 Edition

Lemur

LE'MUR

,
Noun.
[L.] A genus of quadrupeds, the Makis, natives of Africa and the East Indies.

Definition 2024

Lemur

Lemur

See also: lemur, lémur, and lemúr

Translingual

Ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta)

Wikispecies

Proper noun

Lemur m

  1. A taxonomic genus within the family Lemuridae – the ring-tailed lemur.

Hyponyms

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.

German

Noun

Lemur m ‎(genitive Lemuren, plural Lemuren)

  1. lemur

Synonyms

lemur

lemur

See also: Lemur, lémur, and lemúr

English

Ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta)

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

Related 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.

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

Inflection of lemur 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative lemur lemuren lemurer lemurerna
Genitive lemurs lemurens lemurers lemurernas

Etymology

From Latin lemurēs ‎(“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]

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