1 Ranko Matasović University of Zagreb THE ETYMOLOGY OF Lares ...stant quoque pro nobis, et praesunt moenibus urbis, et sunt praesentes auxiliumque ferunt (Ovid on Lares Praestites, Fasti 135-136). Latin deities known as Lares are first found in the opening line of „Carmen Arvale“, Enos Lases iuvate. This shows that the classical the form of the name underwent rhotacism, so we may start from Early Latin Lās, Lasis. The length in the Nom. sg. is not well attested in texts, but we have the testimony of Priscian (GrL 2,223), who may be trusted. The name of the Lares appears quite derivationally isolated in Latin. A possible derivative is lārua 'evil spirit', which may be from earlier *lsw. In the early sources, only the Lar Familiaris appears in the singular (e.g. in the Prologue to Plautus' Aulularia), while all the other Lares occur mostly in the plural (Lares compitales, Lares permarini, Lares praestites, Lares Volusani). In contradistinction to Penates, who are regularly preceded by divi, dii, Lares never are, which indicates that the word was originally a noun, rather than a substantivized adjective. It seems that the Lares were both ghosts of family ancestors (they were worshipped at the fireplace of every familia) as well as protectors of particular places, especially of crossroads (Lares compitales). The two are not mutually incompatible, since dead ancestors are quite natural protectors of the family territory, the fundus. 1 I propose to derive the name of the Lares from the PIE root *deh 2 - 'divide, separate, apportion' (LIV 87, IEW 175-6), cf. Ved. (aorist) áva adāt 'he separated', OIr. dál (< *deh 2 -lo-) 'part', Gr. datéomai (< *dh 2 -t-) 'to share in', dasmós 'a division, sharing of spoil'. The root is also attested with the suffix *-y-, probably on the analogy with the present stem *dh 2 -eye- (Ved. dáyate 'divides, apportions', Gr. daíomai) The etymology considered by de Vaan (2009: 327) connects Lār to lascīvus 'playful, unrestrained' (from PIE *leh 2 s-, cf. Russ. lásyj 'greedy, eager', Gr. lilaíomai 'desire strongly'), but, as de Vaan himself concludes, this is „theoretically possible, but not very likely“, chiefly because of the difference in meaning. Other etymologies, found in the earlier dictionaries by Walde & Hoffmann (I: 762f.) and Ernout & Meillet (341), are not any more convincing. The ablaut in the inflection of this word speaks against the hypothesis that it is a loanword from some unknown source, perhaps Etruscan. 2 1 See Ogilvie 2000: 101, Dumézil 2000: 346ff. 2 It is uncertain whether OCS děliti 'divide', Lith. dailýti 'id.', Goth. dailan 'id.' also belong here, since Goth. d- points to PIE *d h -; another problem lies in the accentuation, since the circumflex in Lith. 3sg. dai͂ la is unexpected. . The change of word-initial PIE *d into l (rather than d) is well attested in Latin, cf. Lat. solium 'seat' < *sodyom (OIr. suide 'seat'), Lat. lingua 'tongue' < *dng' h uh 2 (Goth. tuggō), Lat. lacrima, lacruma 'tear' (OLat. dacruma in Livius Andronicus, cf. Gr. dákry, OIr. dér). This development is