What does Lamia mean?

Definitions for Lamia
lami·a

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word Lamia.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. vampire, lamianoun

    (folklore) a corpse that rises at night to drink the blood of the living

Wiktionary

  1. Lamianoun

    A city in Greece.

  2. lamianoun

    A monster with the head and breasts of a woman and the lower half of a serpent, which ate children and sucked the blood from men.

Wikipedia

  1. Lamia

    Lamia (; Greek: Λάμια), in ancient Greek mythology, was a child-eating monster and, in later tradition, was regarded as a type of night-haunting spirit (daemon). In the earliest stories, Lamia was a beautiful queen of Ancient Libya who had an affair with Zeus. Upon learning this, Zeus's wife Hera robbed Lamia of her children, the offspring of her affair with Zeus, either by kidnapping or by killing them. The loss of her children drove Lamia insane, and in vengeance and despair, Lamia snatched up any children she could find and devoured them. Because of her cruel acts, her physical appearance changed to become ugly and monstrous. Zeus gave Lamia the power of prophecy and the ability to take out and reinsert her eyes, possibly because she was cursed by Hera with insomnia or because she could no longer close her eyes, so that she was forced to always obsess over her lost children.The lamiai (Greek: λαμίαι) also became a type of phantom, synonymous with the empusai who seduced young men to satisfy their sexual appetite and fed on their flesh afterward. An account of Apollonius of Tyana's defeat of a lamia-seductress inspired the poem Lamia by John Keats. Lamia has been ascribed serpentine qualities, which some commentators believe can be firmly traced to mythology from antiquity; they have found analogues in ancient texts that could be designated as lamiai (or lamiae) which are part-serpent beings. These include the half-woman, half-snake beasts of the "Libyan myth" told by Dio Chrysostom, and the monster sent to Argos by Apollo to avenge Psamathe (Crotopus). In previous centuries, Lamia was used in Greece as a bogeyman to frighten children into obedience, similar to the way parents in Spain, Portugal and Latin America used the Coco.

ChatGPT

  1. lamia

    A lamia is a mythical creature from ancient Greek mythology, often depicted as a demon, monster, or a half-woman, half-snake being. Originally, Lamia was a queen of Libya who, in various accounts, became a child-eating daemon. Lamia was later regarded as a type of night-haunting spirit. Over time, she has been associated with vampirism and is often portrayed as a seductress or enchantress.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Lamianoun

    a monster capable of assuming a woman's form, who was said to devour human beings or suck their blood; a vampire; a sorceress; a witch

  2. Etymology: [L., fr. Gr. .]

Wikidata

  1. Lamia

    In ancient Greek mythology, Lamia was a beautiful queen of Libya who became a child-eating daemon. Aristophanes claimed her name derived from the Greek word for gullet, referring to her habit of devouring children. In the myth, Lamia is a mistress of the god Zeus, causing Zeus' jealous wife, Hera, to kill all of Lamia's children and transform her into a monster that hunts and devours the children of others. Another version has Hera merely stealing away all of Lamia's children and it being Lamia herself, losing her mind from grief and despair, who starts stealing and devouring others' children out of jealousy, the repeated monstrosity of which transforms her into a monster on its own. Some accounts say she has a serpent's tail below the waist. This popular description of her is largely due to Lamia, a poem by John Keats published in 1819. Antoninus Liberalis uses Lamia as an alternate name for the serpentine drakaina Sybaris; however, Diodorus Siculus describes her as having nothing more than a distorted face. Later traditions referred to many lamiae; these were folkloric monsters similar to vampires and succubi that seduced young men and then fed on their blood.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Lamia

    lā′mi-a, n. in Greek and Roman mythology, a female phantom, a serpent witch who charmed children and youths in order to suck their blood.

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer

  1. lamia

    (now Zeitun, or Zetuni). A town in Phthiotis, in Thessaly, situated on the small river Achelous. It has given its name to the war which was carried on by the confederate Greeks against Antipater, after the death of Alexander, 323 B.C. The confederates under the command of Leosthenes, the Athenian, defeated Antipater, who took refuge in Lamia, where he was besieged for some months. Leosthenes was killed during the siege; and the confederates were obliged to raise it in the following year (322), in consequence of the approach of Leomatus. The confederates under the command of Antiphilus defeated Leomatus, who was slain in the action. Soon afterwards Antipater was joined by Craterus; and thus strengthened, he gained a decisive victory over the confederates at the battle of Cranon (322), which put an end to the Lamian war.

Editors Contribution

  1. lamia

    Lamia (noun)is a vampire.

    Lamia is called a female demon that devour a victim.


    Submitted by pinkss5 on September 16, 2015  

Suggested Resources

  1. lamia

    Song lyrics by lamia -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by lamia on the Lyrics.com website.

Mythology

  1. Lamia

    (Lam′ia). An evil deity among the Greeks and Romans, and the great dread of their children, whom she had the credit of constantly enticing away and destroying.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. LAMIA

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Lamia is ranked #52267 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Lamia surname appeared 397 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Lamia.

    93.2% or 370 total occurrences were White.
    2% or 8 total occurrences were Asian.
    1.7% or 7 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
    1.5% or 6 total occurrences were of two or more races.

Matched Categories

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

Anagrams for Lamia »

  1. Malia

  2. alima

How to pronounce Lamia?

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of Lamia in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of Lamia in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Popularity rank by frequency of use

Lamia#100000#112238#333333

Translations for Lamia

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"Lamia." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 22 Nov. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/Lamia>.

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