ἀειρύτου. The rule is that ρ is doubled when, by inflection or composition, a simple vowel precedes it, but remains single when a diphthong precedes it: hence “νεόρρυτος”, but “ἀείρυτος”. Through overlooking this distinction, Blaydes follows our MSS. in writing ἀειρρύτου. Metre often led the poets to use ρ instead of ρρ, as “ἀμφι^ρύτου” (Ai. 134), “χρυσορύτους” (Ant. 950), “αὐτόριζος” (Babrius fab. 69); and “προρέω”, not “προρρέω”, was the regular form, as euphony plainly required. But there is no classical instance of the opposite anomaly.
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.
Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education provided support for entering this text.
This text was converted to electronic form by professional data entry and has been proofread to a high level of accuracy.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.