Etymology

Athenaeus (376b) gives three possible derivations of the word: (1) it derives from the verb λαρινεύεσθαι (to be fattened; in fact the process evidently took the opposite course), or (2) it derives from the name of a village in Epirus Larines, or (3) a mythical shepherd named Larinos, after whom a breed or variety of cattle was named (Scholia ad Ar. Av. 465 explain that this refers to descendants of oxen stolen from Gerion). The Byzantine philologist Eustathios adds (Il. 4.526; Od. 1.7) and a fourth to the suggestions given by Athenaeus: the adjective would denote animals with particularly thick skin (ἀπὸ τοῦ ῥινοῦ), and the syllable la- would represent a kind of prefix. Apparently, already in late antiquity, the meaning of the word did not seem fully clear, and its etymology was subject to free speculation.

As pointed out by modern scholars (Beekes (2010: s.v.); Chantraine (1972: s.v.); Frisk (1960: s.v.)) the adjective is probably related to the Latin laridum > lardum (lard; etymology unclear). It must therefore be assumed to have been inherited or borrowed into Latin and Greek from a common source. The long ilo and oxytonic accent are cause for concern.

The long ā in the onset syllable can be explained as the result of contraction or lengthening with the obliteration of the laryngeal consonant (or a sequence of both). The word may therefore be related to the adjective lārós < lawarós (tasty). The latter Pokorny (1959: 655) has linked with apo-lauō (benefit) and leiā < lāu-íā (booty, [plundered] cattle; cf. e.g. lat. lucrum; Go. laun - reward), presenting the element *leh2w-. On a semantic level, the connections between these words seem quite obvious. Interestingly, the word leiā may also be related to the Greek lāós (armed people; Chantraine 1972: s.v.; after Heubeck 1969), a word derived from the same or homonymous element *leh2w-. Mycenological data and the Homeric epic (Werlings 2010: 21-107) indicate that the latter noun, like dēmos, referred to a human collectivity, a mass conceived as the opposite of a leader (anax, lawagetes; the difference in meaning and referent was significant in this case: an armed people/ a land-cultivating people). This makes the ratio lārīnós (fat) / lāós (group) : dēmós (fat) / dēmos (group) seem too precise to be accidental (cf. pol. fat / fata).

Testimonies

The earliest attestation is a passus from Xenophanes of Colophon (fr. B6.1-2 ap. Ath. 369f):

πέμψας γὰρ κωλῆν ἐρίφου σκέλος ἤραο πῖον/ ταύρου λαρινοῦ - You sent the thigh of a goat, and took the leg of a fattened bull. The continuation of the passus, though the whole is not entirely clear, leaves no doubt that the two pieces of meat as gifts are contrasted. The leg of the fattened bull is clearly a thing of great value (cf. Untersteiner 1955: 121-2). The use of the word in two places in Aristophanes has similar overtones:

Pax 925: Βούλεσθε λαρινῷ βοΐ; - do you want a fattened ox [to honour the goddess]? The prestigious sacrifice is here contrasted with the cheap pap of vegetables referred to in the earlier verses.

Aves 465: μέγα καὶ λαρινὸν ἔπος τι - big fat words (words as big as an ox = bombastic). Although this is a figurative usage, the locution confirms that the adjective describes a characteristic of the size, magnificence of animals.

According to Athenaeus (376b), Achaeus (probably referring to the tragic poet of the fifth or fourth century BC), as well as Eratosthenes (fr. 20), used this adjective to refer to pigs, which was an exception to the rule, for it essentially referred to oxen (παραπλησίως δὲ τῷ ᾿Αχαιῷ καὶ ᾿Ερατοσθένης ἐν ᾿Αντερινύι τοὺς σύας λαρινοὺς προσηγόρευσε μεταγαγὼν καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπὸ τῶν λαρινῶν βοῶν).