[243] ἐν περάτῃ. This word was supposed by Alexandrian scholars to mean ‘the extreme east’ (Apoll. Rh. i. 1281, Callim. Del.169): but there does not seem to be any good ground for this interpretation. Ameis and others connect it with “πέρας” ‘end,’ so that it is = ‘the bounds’ of earth and sky, the horizon (cp. “πείρατα γαίης”). But “πέρας” is a later form: in the Homeric word “πεῖρας” and its derivatives the first syllable is long. A more defensible etymology is from “περάω” ‘to pass.’ As barytone nouns in -τη from verbs usually have (or acquire) a concrete sense—as “ἐλά-τη” ‘an oar,’ “ἄτη” (for “ἀά-τη”) ‘harm done,’ “δαί-τη, κοί-τη, μελέ-τη, ἠλακά-τη”, &c.— we should expect “περάτη” to denote ‘the passage’ of night, i. e. the space which the darkness traverses in the course of one night. Cp. “λυκάβας” as explained in the note on 14. 161.
δολιχὴν σχέθεν, = “ὥστε δολιχὴν εἶναι”. This prolepsis is idiomatic with words meaning quick or slow: cp. Il.19. 276“λῦσεν δ᾽ ἀγορὴν αἰψηρήν”.Hide browse bar Your current position in the text is marked in blue. Click anywhere in the line to jump to another position:
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Homer's Odyssey. W. Walter Merry. James Riddell. D. B. Monro. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1886-1901.
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