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[743] νύμφα^. Here and in Il.3. 130; ‘poeta Aeolici sermonis usum sequitur, cum in vocativo “νύμφα” correpta ultima utatur. Deprehenditur enim subinde apud Aeoles, ut sunt in universum propter accentus, puto, rationem ad corripiendas et mutilandas verborum terminationes admodum proclives, correpta vocativi forma, sicut in “ὦ Δίκα^” Sapph.77’ Theod. Ameis de Aeolism. ap. Hom. p. 39, Halle, 1865. It should be remarked that Aeolism in Homer is seen not so much in a general modification of the Ionic dialect, as in the occasional employment of the forms and flexions regarded as characteristic of the Aeolic. Hinrichs (De Hom. elocutionis vestigüs Aeol., Berlin, 1875) would considerably reduce the number of Aeolisms, accepted by the ancient grammarians, who, according to him, gave the name of Aeolisms to what are only archaisms. He also seeks to prove that Aeolisms are most frequent in common Epic formulas. Among the most unmistakable of these may be quoted such words as “λυκάβας” Od.14. 161.Compare “τρισσὸν ὑπὸλ λυκάβαν” in a metrical inscription of the Roman period, found in Mytilene. “ἴα”=“μία” Il.4. 437 etc., “πίσυρες” Od.5. 70 etc., “πεμπώβολον” Od.3. 460, “πεμπάζεσθαι” Od.4. 412, “μείς”=“μήν” Il.19. 117, “βῶς”= “βοῦς”, an ox-hide shield, Il.7. 238(?), “φήρ”=“θήρ” Il.1. 268, “Θερσίτης” as contrasted with “θάρσος”. Such forms too as “βόλομαι” (i. e. “βόλλομαι”) for “βούλομαι, ἕταρος” for “ἕταιρος” (see Eustath. 28. 32), “αὐέρυσαν” Il.1. 159, “αὐιάχοι” Il.13. 41, “καλαῦροψ” Il.23. 845, and “ταλαύρινος” Il.5. 289, may be quoted as Aeolic. Some Aeolic forms became the common property of the Greek language, as “ἄγυρις, ἀνώνυμος, ἐρεβεννός” (for “ἐρεβεσνός”), “ἐραννός, ἄγρει” from “ἀγρεῖν”=“αἱρεῖν”. In the declension of the noun such forms as “νύμφα, νυμφάων, νεφεληγερέτα” and “-ταο, Κρονίδαο Il., i῞πποιο, Κυκλώπεσσι”, etc. come nearer to the Aeolic system than to the Ionic. The grammarians also referred to the same source the so-called metaplastic cases of the noun e. g. “φύλακος” (nominative) and its cases by the side of “φύλαξ”, Il.6. 35; 24.566; Od.15. 231; cp. “ἰῶκα” Il.11. 601 with “ἰωκήν, ὑσμῖνι” with “ὑσμίνῃ, ἀλκί” with “ἀλκῇ”, and “ζαῆν ἄνεμον” Od.12. 313, where the Ionic form of declension would give “ζαῆ”. It is less easy to assign the various forms of the pronoun to their original dialects. Perhaps “ἐγών”, the genitives in “-θεν, ἄμμι, ἄμμε, ὔμμι, ὔμμε”, may be reckoned with some certainty as Aeolic. Among adverb forms, “ὕπαιθα, ἤλιθα, μίνυνθα, ἄλλυδις”, and “ἄμυδις” reckon as Aeolic.

In the flexion of the verbs the Scholl. and grammarians refer several peculiar forms to Aeolic that cannot rightly be so characterised, e. g. the termination “-ατο”, which occurs in the pure Ionic of Herodotus. The short forms “δάμεν, βάν, στάν, ἔφαν” are referred by them to the same dialect, but it is at least as likely that they were in common usage in popular Greek. Among the best established Aeolisms in the verb we may quote such forms as “κέκαδον, κεκαδησόμεθα”, the reduplicated 2nd aorist and its derived future; which Schol. Vict.on Il.8. 352 calls “ἀναδιπλασιασμὸς Αἰολικός”. The Schol. A. on Il.10. 67 finds “ἐγρήγορθαι” as an Aeolic form: cp. “τέτορθαι, μέμορθαι, ἔφθορθαι”.

It is usual to refer to Aeolic the form of the 2nd pers. sing. present act. in “-θα”, as “τίθησθα” ( Od.9. 404), “φῆσθα” ( Il.21. 186), “διδοῖσθα” ( Il.19. 270), the optative aorist in “-εια, -ειας, -ειε”, the termination of the perf. act. particip. in “-ων, -οντος”, instead of “-ώς, -ότος” (see Aristarch. on “κεκλήγοντες” Il.16. 430), and the future and aor. with “ς” from verbs in “ρ” and “λ” (as “κέρσω, κέλσω, φύρσω”). Special forms quoted as Aeolic are “ἆλτο”, and “ἄεσα” (from root “ἀϝ”, ‘to sleep’), in which Ameis finds the use of the Aeolic augment in “α”. The form “ἐπισχοίης” ( Il.14. 241) is given by the Schol. ad loc. as a special Aeolism, found in Sappho. On the whole question see the treatise of Ameis, referred to above, Ahrens, de dialect. Aeol., Herzog, Bildungsgesch. der Griech. und Lat. p. 115 foll.

σὺ μὲν ἄρ με=‘slay me or let me be;’ i. e. ‘whether you slay me or spare me, still I will not hide what I have to say.’ Compare “ψεύσομαι ἢ ἔτυμον ἐρέω κέλεται δέ με θυμός” sup. 140.

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

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