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[892] ἀάσχετον: the formation of this word, which recurs only in 24.708, is hardly explicable. According to Bekker it is for “ἀν-ανάσχετος”, through the stage “ἀν-ά”（“ν”）“σχετος”, the second “ν” being lost before the “ς”, and the first then having to follow suit, that the word might not be confused with “ἀνα-σχετός” in the opposite sense. If so, it is probably a late and wrong reading, for which “ἀνάσχετον” ought to be substituted here (so Wackernagel): mere possibilities of confusion do not set aside the ordinary laws of linguistic formation. According to another view we have a case of ‘Epic diectasis’ for “ἄσχετος”, cf. 16.549 “ἄσχετον, οὐκ ἐπιεικτόν”. This is likely enough in a passage of late origin, and perhaps contemporaneous with the formation on false analogy of “ὁράαις” for “ὁράεις” through the stage “ὁρᾶις”, etc. οὐκ ἐπιεικτόν, unyielding, indomitable, as 8.32, etc.

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

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