[Meaning] the ones from Epirus, [named] after Larinus the oxherd who stole the oxen of Heracles -- as Lykos of Rhegion [states] -- when [Heracles] brought the oxen of Geriones. But Proxenos [says] that Heracles himself dedicated some to Dodonian Zeus; and Apollodorus for his part [says that] well-fed oxen [are called] larinoi ["fatted"]; for [the verb] larineuein means to feed up.[1]
Aristophanes in Birds [writes]: "I am looking for some fatted verse, that will smash their morale." Meaning a large one; from a metaphor of oxen.[2] This name was taken from a certain oxherd [called] Larinos. But there are some who claim they are called this from the [word] laron ["sweet"]. But others give the ri syllable rough aspiration, so that it becomes la-rhinous, those with big noses. In Chaonia they say there are oxen like that, which they also call Kestrinoi. Or [meaning] the big and well-fed oxen, [named] from an oxherd [called] Larinos. Herodian [says that the word] is accentuated on the final syllable, like a)lhqino/s.[3]