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[366] ἐπασσύτεροι ‘one close upon another.’ The force of the comparative is ‘closer than commonly’ (cp. 15. 370., 16. 216). The word is usually connected with “ἄσσων, ἀσσοτέρω”: but on this view the υ is not easily accounted for. A probable derivation has now been given by Brugmann (Rh. Mus. liii. p. 630). He supposes an adverb “ἐπασσύ”（“ς”), for “ἐπ-αν-σσύ”（“ς”), from the root of “σεύω” (Indog. qjeu, qju), with the meaning ‘pressing on after’: cp. “πανσυδίῃ” (v. l. “πασσυδίῃ”), and the adverbs formed from root-nouns, as “ἐγ-γύς, μεσση-γύ”（“ς”), “ἀντι-κρύ”（“ς”), “πρό-χνυ, ὑπόδρα, ἐπί-καρ, ἐπι-μίξ”. This explanation suits the use of “ἐπασσύτερος” in the Iliad (nearly=“ἐπεσσύμενος”), and is supported by the gloss “ἀσσυτία: ἄλλα ἐπ᾽ ἄλλοις” (Hesych.). An adj. “ἀσσυτίος” would stand to “ἀσσύ” as “πλησίος” to “πέλας”.

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

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