παπταίνειν, from meaning ‘to glance timidly’ around, passes into the sense of looking about anxiously for someone or something ( Il. 17. 115“παπταίνων Αἴαντα”), and so comes to denote restless search, as in Pind. O. 1. 114“μηκέτι πάπταινε πόρσιον”, Pind. P. 3. 22“παπταίνει τὰ πόρσω”. Here, the notion of moving forward in a wary quest is assisted by εἴσω.
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Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part VII: The Ajax. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1907.
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