[108] ἀέθλια means here the ‘games,’ i. e. the tests of prowess. So in Od.21. 4 the bow and axe-heads, by which the manhood of the suitors was to be tested, are called “ἀέθλια καὶ φόνου ἀρχή”, cp. 24. 169. In Od.21. 117 the signification of the word is uncertain: Telemachus, in alluding to this trial of strength, speaks of himself as “οἷός τ᾽ ἤδη πατρὸς ἀέθλια κάλ᾽ ἀνελέσθαι”, where some render the words, ‘to lift up the tests,’ sc. the instruments of the trial—bow and axe-heads (cp. “πελέκεας . . ἀναιρήσεσθαι” Od.21. 261); and others take them in the commoner sense of ‘carrying off the prize;’ cp. “ἀέθλια ἶσ᾽ ἀνελόντες” Il.23. 736.This is very likely the original meaning, as it is the usual one, of the word; cp. “ἀέθλια ποσσὶν ἄροντο” Il.9. 124, “ἀέθλια ἠνείκαντο” ib. 127. And the apparent confusion between the contest and the prize is not peculiar to Homer, but we see it in such a common idiom as “Ὀλύμπια νικᾶν”. In Latin, too, ‘certamen’ bears a double meaning, i.e. generally of the contest, and occasionally of the prize, as, apparently, Ov. Met.13. 129‘tanti certaminis heres:’ so, too, ‘palma’ stands usually for the prize and sometimes for the winner, as ‘iam tertia palma Diores’ Aen.5. 339.
As we have “μηρία, μῆρα” and “μηροί” with doubtful differences of signification, so we find “ἀέθλιον, ἄεθλον [ἆθλον”], and “ἄεθλος [ἆθλος”] with a like uncertainty. “ἄεθλον” in Od.11. 548, and “ἄεθλα” often (as, e. g. Il.23. 259) have the meaning of ‘prize;’ while in Od.24. 89“ἄεθλα” seems to stand for ‘contest.’ This double meaning is not found with “ἄεθλοι [ἆθλοι”], which uniformly signifies ‘contest’ or ‘toil.’ The gender of “ἄθλων” inf. 160 is still uncertain, for though the addition of “οἷά τε” there might seem to imply the neuter, yet such phrases as “κτῆσιν ὄπασσεν” “οἷά τε ᾧ οἰκῆι ἄναξ εὔθυμος ἔδωκεν” ( Od.14. 63) show that “οἷά τε” may be used quite adverbially; cp. Od.3. 73; 9.128; 11. 536, so that “ἄθλων” may well be the genitive from “ἄεθλος [ἆθλος”]. The Schol. Harl. on Od. 4.242 draws the distinction thus, “ὁ ἆθλος ἀρσενικῶς μόνος ὁ ἀγὼν, τὸ ἆθλον δὲ καὶ τὸ ἐπινίκιον καὶ ὁ ἀγών”. On the line inf. 160, see Lehrs, Aristarch. p. 149, note, who quotes, as a parallel, Il.7. 238“βῶν”“ἀζαλέην . . τό μοι ἔστι” with the interpretation “ὅτι προτάξας τὸ θηλυκὸν οὐδέτερον” (neuter) “ἐπήνεγκε τό μοι ἔστι πρὸς τὸ σημαινόμενον, ὡς τὸ νεφέλη δέ μιν . . τὸ μὲν οὔ ποτε” ( Od.12. 74), showing that it is not to be supposed that Aristarchus confounded “ἄεθλον” and “ἄεθλος”. See the note generally for the post-Homeric use of the words. The etymology is extremely uncertain. Curtius considers the “α” as a mere prefix, “ἄ-εθ-λον”, and would refer the “εθ” to the same root as Lat. vă（d）s, as in vadari. Bergk, Rhein. Mus. 1864, p. 603, proposes to connect “ἄεθλον” (as if “ἄερθλον”) with “ἀείρω”.
