lamia

See also: Lamia, lamía, làmia, lâmia, and łamią

English

Etymology

From Latin lamia, from Ancient Greek Λάμια (Lámia).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈleɪmɪə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈleɪ.mi.ə/

Noun

lamia (plural lamias or lamiae)

1. (Greek mythology) A monster preying upon human beings, who sucked the blood of children, often described as having the head and breasts of a woman and the lower half of a serpent.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition III, section 2, member 1, subsection i:

     Apollonius […] by some probable conjectures, found her out to be a serpent, a lamia, and that all her furniture was like Tantalus' gold described by Homer, no substance, but mere illusions.

Synonyms

• vampire

Translations

monster in mythology

• Basque: lamia
• Catalan: làmia (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 拉米亞／拉米亚

• Czech: lamia
• Dutch: lamia
• Estonian: lamia (et)
• Finnish: lamia (fi)
• French: lamie (fr) f
• Galician: lamia (gl) f
• German: Lamia
• Greek: Λάμια (el) f (Lámia), λάμια (el) f (lámia)

  Ancient: Λάμια f (Lámia)

• Italian: lamia (it)
• Japanese: ラミアー
• Korean: 라미아 (ramia)
• Latin: lamia
• Lithuanian: lamija
• Marathi: लामिया (lāmiyā)
• Norwegian: lamia
• Polish: lamia (pl)
• Portuguese: lâmia (pt) f
• Russian: ламия f (lamija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: lamija

• Slovene: lamija
• Spanish: lamia
• Swedish: lamia

Anagrams

• Malia, ilama, malai, malia

Cebuano

Etymology

lami +‎ -a

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: la‧mi‧a

Adjective

lamia

1. exclamatory form of lami

Anagrams

• imala

Galician

Old Galician cart wheels

A Galician cart in exposition

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Latin lamia, from Ancient Greek Λάμια (Lámia).

Alternative forms

• lâmia (reintegrationist)
• lumia

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlamja̝/

Noun

lamia f (plural lamias)

1. lamia (a monster preying upon human beings, who sucked the blood of children, often described as having the head and breasts of a woman and the lower half of a serpent)
2. dusky shark (Carcharhinus obscurus)

Etymology 2

Attested from 1371. From Old Galician-Portuguese (albeit not documented in Portugal); from Latin lāmina (“plate”).

Alternative forms

• lâmia (reintegrationist)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlamja̝/

Noun

lamia f (plural lamias)

1. iron rim or tyre of a cart's wheel

   Synonyms: canterla, ferra, palmela

2. plate

   Synonym: lámina

   • 1371, A. López Ferreiro, editor, Fueros municipales de Santiago y de su tierra, Madrid: Ediciones Castilla, page 434:

     Demays lançaron lámeas trauesas grandes de ferro enna porta do dito thesouro con clauos que passauan da outra parte, en tal maneyra, que os enssarraron enno dito thesouro; et en todo aquel dia non les leixaron dar nen auer pan, nen vino, nen outra vianda nihua

     And also they nailed large crossed iron plates on that treasury's door, with nails that pierced through the door, so that they were shut up in the mentioned treasury; and throughout that day they didn't let them have bread, nor wine, nor any other viand whatsoever

References

• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “lámea”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “lamia”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “lamia”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “lamia”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈla.mja/
• Rhymes: -amja
• Hyphenation: là‧mia

Etymology 1

From Byzantine Greek λάμια n pl (lámia, “deep openings”).

Noun

lamia f (plural lamie)

1. (southern Italy, architecture) a type of vault used in rustic buildings

Etymology 2

From Latin lamia, from Ancient Greek Λάμια (Lámia).

Alternative forms

• lammia (archaic)

Noun

lamia f (plural lamie) (uncommon)

1. witch

   Synonyms: fattucchiera, megera, strega

2. fairy, enchantress

   Synonyms: fata, incantatrice

3. nymph

   Synonym: ninfa

Etymology 3

From Latin lamia, from Ancient Greek λάμια (lámia).

Noun

lamia f (plural lamie)

1. vernacular name of several species of fish:
   1. (Tuscan) Synonym of canesca (“school shark”)
   2. (Sicily) Synonym of rana pescatrice (“anglerfish”)
   3. (Liguria) Synonym of bandiera rossa (“red bandfish”)

Further reading

• lamia¹ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• lamia² in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• lamia³ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• malia

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek λάμια (lámia), Λάμια (Lámia).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈla.mi.a/, [ˈɫ̪ämiä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈla.mi.a/, [ˈläːmiä]

Noun

lamia f (genitive lamiae); first declension

1. witch who was said to suck children's blood (sort of female bogeyman), vampiress
2. a sorceress, enchantress, witch

   Synonyms: strīga, malefica, volātica, masca

3. a sort of flatfish

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	lamia	lamiae
genitive	lamiae	lamiārum
dative	lamiae	lamiīs
accusative	lamiam	lamiās
ablative	lamiā	lamiīs
vocative	lamia	lamiae

Derived terms

• lamium (“deadnettle”)

Descendants

• → Translingual: lamia (used in names of fish)
• → English: lamia (learned)
• → Galician: lamia (learned)
• → Italian: lamia (learned)

References

• “lamia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “lamia”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• lamia in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• lamia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “lamia”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎^[1]
• “lamia”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “lamia”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• “lamia”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly