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The intensive particle λᾱ- attested by ancient lexicography is a ghost word. It has its origin in a faulty analysis of the compound λᾱκαταπύγων (Ar., Ach. 664): this word does not mean “very καταπύγων” but “public καταπύγων,” it is a compound of λαός “people,” with the non-Attic form λᾱ- (instead of Attic λεω-) found in names such as Λαμαχος, which is the name of an Athenian general and character of the play, and λᾱκαταπύγων is a joke on that very name Λαμαχος. Compounds in λαι- usually compared with this λᾱ- have nothing to do with λαός, they are compounds of λιλαίομαι “to desire eagerly” Λαισθένης “who desires force”), from * lasi-. Neither is the homeric adjective λαιψηρός a compound with intensive λᾱ- : it is a secondary variant of αἰψηρός altered by analogy. The etymology and the Mycenaean names compared with these by Taillardat (1992) must therefore be abandoned.