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[519] The gen. sing. and plur. of “ὄϊς” appear in our texts of Homer in the forms “ὄϊος, ὀΐων” and “οἰός, οἰῶν”. In a majority of the passages (eighteen out of twenty-eight) the disyllabic “οἰός, οἰῶν” are required by the metre. In the remaining instances (as here) the metre admits either form. The MSS. favour “ὄϊος” in Il.9. 207. Il., 15. 373(but “οἰός” in H and others), Od.4. 764: “οἰῶν” in Il.3. 198, Od.9. 167. Od., 14. 519. Od., 20. 3; “ὀΐων” in Il.18. 529, Od.9. 441 Od., 443.The ancients were divided. Aristarchus wrote “οἰῶν” (see La Roche on Il.3. 198), and presumably also “οἰός”. Others, represented by Herodian, preferred “ὄϊος, ὀΐων”. They argued from the nom., which in Homer is always “ὄϊς” (not “οἶς”, as in Attic): so that the regular Ionic gen. would be “ὄϊ-ος, ὀΐ-ων”. But “οἰός” and “οἰῶν”, as the accent shows, are not contracted from “ὄϊος, ὀΐων”, but come directly from ὀϝj-ός, ὀϝιj-ῶν: as “ὄσσε” from “ὄκιj-ε”, and similarly “δουρός, γουνός” from “δορϝ-ός, γονϝ-ός”. Hence it is very probable that the forms “ὄϊος, ὀΐων” are fictitious: as are the gen. plur. “ὀΐων” and the datives “πτόλιι, μήτιι, κόνιι”, &c. introduced by some modern grammarians.

Homer's Odyssey. W. Walter Merry. James Riddell. D. B. Monro. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1886-1901.

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