ἐξοικήσιμος, capable of being made into a dwelling-place, "habitable," here implying "inhabited." Adjectives with the suffix σιμο properly denote adaptability. They were primarily formed from substantives in -σι-ς, as χρήσι-μο-ς, fitted for use, from χρῆσις. The noun ἐξοίκησις is found only in the sense of "emigration," Plat. Legg. 704C, 850 B. But as from ἱππάζομαι was formed ἱππά-σιμος, though no ἵππασις occurs, so ἐξοικήσιμος here is taken directly from ἐξοικεῖν as="to make into a dwellingplace" ( Thuc. 2.17 “ἐξῳκήθη”). οἰκήσιμος as="habitable" occurs in later Greek. Just as ἐξοικήσιμος is practically equivalent to οἰκητός here, so Silius speaks of the Capitoline as “"superis habitabile saxum,"” alluding to the actual shrines on it (1. 541). Cp. “ἁλώσιμος βάξις” (Aesch. Ag. 10), tidings of an actual, not merely possible, capture. This poet. use is the converse of that by which “ἄρρητος” could mean "unspeakable," or invictus, "unconquerable."
This text is part of:
Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part II: The Oedipus Coloneus. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1899.
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