Etymograph

English

larva

Larva comes from Latin larva ‘disembodied spirit, ghost, goblin’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElarva‘disembodied spirit, ghost, goblin’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1883same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElarva‘disembodied spirit, ghost, goblin’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1883same form

Earliest quotation: 1883, The Edinburgh Review - Volume 158: “In the fourteenth we find, but still in Latin,…”

Linked words

through Latin Lār ‘Etruscan praenomen’

lar, 1 more

Today it means

noun An early stage of growth for insects and some amphibians, in which after hatching from their egg, insects are wingless and resemble a caterpillar or grub, and amphibians lack limbs and resemble fish.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin larva / larva

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