previous next

[183] δυσωρήσονται: so MSS.; almost all edd., however, give “δυσωρήσωσιν”, from Apoll. Lex., on the ground that the form in “-σονται” cannot stand in a simile, being a future. It would of course be easy to emend “-σωνται”, but it is a question if this is necessary. The rule which our texts follow, that the long vowel in subjunctive forms is written whenever the metre admits (H. G. § 80), is simply an attempt to reduce the Homeric forms as far as possible to the analogy of later Greek. “δυσωρήσονται” is an almost unique survival of the evidently original rule by which the subj. in the non-thematic conjugation is formed by the thematic vowel unlengthened. In other places we find an occasional “-ονται” in MSS. for “-ωνται”, but generally in so small a minority as to shew that the variation is accidental, 99 above, 8.511, 13.745, etc. See, however, 12.168. The verb itself seems to come from “ὤρα”, and to mean ‘keep painful watch.’ The use of the middle may be supported by forms like “εὐλαβεῖσθαι, εὐθηνεῖσθαι, εὐωχεῖσθαι”, etc., though the act. is certainly more usual.

The Iliad, edited, with apparatus criticus, prolegomena, notes, and appendices. Walter Leaf. London. Macmillan. 1900.

The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide References (3 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (3):
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: