Etymology
The genus name Lemur was created by Carl Linnaeus, the founder of modern binomial nomenclature, to describe only three species, but the word eventually became the collective name used for all primates endemic to Madagascar. Linnaeus was familiar with the historical works of Virgil and Ovid and their references to the festival of Lemuria, during which specters or ghosts—referred to as lemures—were exorcised. As an analogy to these ghosts from Roman mythology, he created the name "Lemur" to include these prosimian primates due to their nocturnal habits and ghost-like appearance. Their noiseless movements at night, reflective eyes, and ghostly cries may also have been a factor. It is even possible that Linnaeus knew that some Malagasy people have held legends that lemurs are the souls of their ancestors.
The species name, catta, refers to the ring-tailed lemur's cat-like appearance. Its purring vocalization is similar to that of the domestic cat.
Read more about this topic: Ring-tailed Lemur
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)