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[100] γέλῳ ἔκθανον. The common rendering is ‘were ready to die with laughter.’ But this sense can hardly be extracted from the aor. of “ἐκθνῄσκω” (if that compound was known to Homer, of which there is no other evidence). Possibly the word should be “ἔκχανον” ‘gaped, opened their mouths in laughter.’ It is conceivable also that “ἔκθανον” is grammatically the 2 aor. of the verb “ἐκ-θείνω”, and means properly ‘struck out,’ i.e. ‘burst’ or ‘broke out.’ Cp. “προτύπτω” in 24. 319 “δριμὺ μένος προὔτυψε”. It is true that “θνῄσκω” and “ἔθανον” are now supposed to be from the same root (ghen) as “θείνω, ἔπεφνον”, Lat. fendo, &c. (Brugmann, Grundr. I. p. 320). Possibly “ἔκ-θανον” represents an older use of the root, before “θαν-εῖν” acquired the sense of dying. This hypothesis would explain Attic “ἐκθνῄσκω” meaning ‘I faint’ (not ‘I die’). But the later use was doubtless influenced by this passage: cp. Antiphanes “Πλους”. 1. 7 “γελῶντες ἐξέθνῃσκον ἐπὶ τῷ πράγματι”, Menand. “Κολ. 2 γέλωτι ἐκθανούμενοι”.

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

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