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ῥοδοδάκτυλος. If this epithet is anything more than an element in the description of the feminine beauty of Eos, we may perhaps see in it an allusion to the spreading rays of rosy light, like fingers of an open hand, which are often visible just before sunrise. “εἶεν δ᾽ ἂν Ἠοῦς δάκτυλοι κατὰ ἀλληγορίαν αἱ τοῦ ἡλίου ἀκτῖνες” Eustath. ad loc.

Ἠώς, the Aeolic form of which is “αὔως”, is the same as the Latin Aurora (i. e. aus-osa) and the Sanskrit us-ar, uS-asa, the root running through all the forms, being us, meaning ‘to give heat, or light.’ See Curt. G. E. p. 358.

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

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