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[548] κατακρ̂ηθεν, a puzzling word. Ar. divided “κατὰ κρῆθεν”, lit. down from the head, from head to foot: cf. “κακ κεφαλῆς” 18.24. For “κρη”- as one of the numerous related stems meaning head cf. “κρή-δεμνον. κατὰ κρῆθεν” is clearly used in the literal sense in Hes. Theog. 574（“κατὰ κρῆθεν δὲ καλύπτρην”), Hymn. Cer. 182 (“κατὰ κρῆθεν κεκαλυμμένη”), probably in Od. 11.588 “κατὰ κρῆθεν χέε καρπόν”, and “ἀπὸ κρῆθεν” (Scut. H. 7) is unambiguous; so that this interpretation is at least very old. Yet it is difficult to separate “κατακρηθεν” from “κατακρης” which is precisely identical in sense (see note on 13.772), and was yet to the linguistic sense of the Greeks a derivative of “ἄκρος” (see Delbrüek Gr. iii. p. 636). It would seem then that “κατὰ κρῆθεν” was originally felt as two words, from the head down; but that as early as this passage confusion with “κατ᾽ ἄκρης” had already come in.

The Iliad, edited, with apparatus criticus, prolegomena, notes, and appendices. Walter Leaf. London. Macmillan. 1900.

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