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[428] στείρῃ is not the keel proper (the name for which is “τρόπις”), but rather the ‘stem,’ and especially the lower part of it where it makes an angle with the horizontal keel; accurately, ‘the fore-foot.’ So Hesych. “τρόπις: τὸ κατώτατον τῆς νεώς. στεῖρα: τὸ ἐξέχον τῆς πρώρας ξύλον”. For the collocation “ἀμφὶ δὲ κῦμα στείρῃ” see on supra 80.

πορφύρεον is regarded by Curtius as a reduplicated adjective from root “φρυ”, and connected with “φρέ-αρ”, and perhaps Latin ferv-eo. According to this etymology the word is equally applicable to agitated water, flickering flames, and flashing colour. Others connect it closely with “φύρω”, ‘to darken,’ and compare its usage here with the Virgilian “‘inhorruit unda tenebris.’”

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

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