previous next

[143] ὀρφναίην, according to Curtius connected with “Ὀρφεύς” and “ἔρεβος”, and, perhaps, with “ἐρέφω”. It is not a standing epithet of “νύξ”, but refers specially to this misty night.

προὐφαίνετο, used impersonally; ‘nor was there light enough to see;’ and thus they needed the gods' guidance. In a similar sense “φαείνω” is used, as Od.18. 307“λαμπτῆρας ἵστασαν ὄφρα φαείνοιεν”. Also “προὔφαινε”, ‘gave forth light,’ inf. 145, but in Od.12. 394 used transitively, “προὔφαινον τέραα”. Cp. Aen.3. 585 foll.

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

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: