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[274] ἄφαρ has variously been connected with root “ἀπ”, as in “ἐξαπίνης” or “ἄφνω”, or with Skt, ava. The older commentators referred it to “ἅπτω” or to “ἀπό” and “ἄρα”, Hartung to “αἶψα” and “ἄρα”. It is important to settle the meaning here, for one of the main features of the story depends upon it, as Schol. B. saw, interpreting it “οὐκ εὐθέως: ἐπεὶ πῶς ἔσχε παῖδας; ἀλλ᾽ ἐξαίφνης”. We know however that if we keep to the old form of the story, the Scholiasts' difficulty disappears. Now the Et. Mag. gives four shades of meaning to “ἄφαρ”, viz. “τὸ ταχέως, καὶ τὸ πρόχειρον καὶ παραχρῆμα, καὶ τὸ αἰφνίδιον, καὶ τὸ ῥᾳδίως”, but the adverbs used by the paraphr., by the Scholl., and by Apollon. , to interpret “ἄφαρ”, are generally “ταχέως, εὐθέως, εὐθύς”, and “ἐσπευσμένως”, and Schol. L. V. B. on Il.1. 349 says, “δηλοῖ δὲ καὶ τὸ ἔπειτα”. The last remark is valuable, as it seems to hit the real point in the use of “ἄφαρ”, which is to express immediate sequence upon what has gone before. In Il.23. 311 we have “ἵπποι ἀφάρτεροι”, an adjective, perhaps of comparative degree, from “ἄφαρ”, the Scholl. and Ap.rendering the word by “εὐθεῖς” and “ταχεῖς”. Seber gives as a complete list of its occurrences, Il.1. 349, 594; 2. 453; 10. 537; 11. 13, 418; 12. 221; 13. 814; 16. 323; 17. 392, 417, 750; 19. 405; 21. 528; 22. 270; 23. 375, 593; 24. 446; Od.1. 410; 2. 95, 169; 3. 456; 4. 85; 5. 482; 6. 49; 8. 270, 409; 9. 328; 10. 122; 11. 273; 17. 305; 19. 140; 21. 307; 24. 129. Translate, ‘at once.’

ἀνάπυστα is the adjective from “ἀναπυνθάνομαι”, as “τὰς πάτρας αὐτῶν ἀνεπύθετο” Hdt.6. 128, ‘he enquired closely into.’ The transition of meaning from ‘enquired into’ to ‘well-known’ is easy. It seems to imply that the gods made no special revelation, but secured the discovery of the deed by stimulating men's curiosity, and setting them on the right track of enquiry.

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

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