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[222] χεύω. The form of the word does not decide whether it is the future indicative or the potential used for the future, and Buttm. gives both suppositions equal claims. In Il.7. 86“χεύωσι” occurs as the conjunctive of the aorist, and in Eurip. El.181“δάκρυσι χεύω” must be taken as a syncopated future, as Euripides would not have admitted the potential mood here. Hesych. seems to regard it as a form of the present indicative (“χεύει, ῥεῖ”), as it certainly is in later Greek writers. Porson and Dindorf, however, read “δάκρυσι χορεύω” in the passage of Euripides. In Il.7. 336 we have this form co-ordinated with an unambiguous aorist subjunctive, “τύμβον δ᾽ ἀμφὶ πυρὴν ἕνα χεύομεν ἐξαγαγόντες”

“ἄκριτον ἐκ πεδίου ποτὶ δ᾽ αὐτὸν δείμομεν, κ.τ.λ.” Here on the contrary “χεύω” appears to go along with an equally unmistakable future indicative, sc. “δώσω” (223). This fact, and the greater simplicity gained by it, give some weight on the side of its being a future. See generally Veitch (Irreg. Gk. Verbs) on “χέω”, who remarks (p.602), ‘In the late recensions of the Iliad and Odyssey, the future and aorist with “ς” have disappeared.’ But we must not attach too much weight to the fact that “χεύω” appears to be parallel with “δώσω”. It is at least as probable that “χεύω” is a subjunctive, with its radical sense of purpose or intention; so that (Monro, H. G. § 275 a) ‘the subjunctive expresses the decisive action to be taken by Telemachus: viz. to acknowledge his father's death: the fut. “δώσω” expresses what would follow as a matter of course.’ To this, however, we must add that it does not appear that “ἔχευα” ever had an “ς.” See Curt. Verb. p. 459; Monro, H. G. App. A. 5.

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

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hide References (3 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (3):
    • Euripides, Electra, 181
    • Homer, Iliad, 7.336
    • Homer, Iliad, 7.86
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