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[41] ἄβρομοι αὐίαχοι would at first sight appear to mean without noise or shouting (“αὐιαχ”- = “ἀν-ϝιϝαχ-, ἀϝϝιϝαχ”-? See Schulze Q. E. p. 65). But in Homer the noise of the Trojans is always contrasted with the silence of the Greeks; and if on entering into battle (2.810, 3.2, 4.433-8) the Trojans were so clamorous, it is impossible to suppose that they became quiet when they were forcing the wall in their career of victory. Human nature too, to say nothing of the comparison of the storms, seems to insist that the words here must mean noisy. And so Ar. took them, “ἀντὶ τοῦ ἄγαν βρομοῦντες καὶ ἄγαν ἰαχοῦντες”. The “ἀ”- should rather be copulative, joining in noise and shout, as the existence of an ‘“ἀ”- intensivum’ is very doubtful. Etymologically this explanation (from sem-, sm-） seems unassailable; for similar cases see Schulze Q. E. p. 495 ff., and note on “ἄξυλος,” 11.155. But it is hard to believe that such words were not ambiguous to the Greeks themselves when the negative “ἀ”- had driven competitors out of the field. We can only suppose that “ἄβρομος” and “αὐίαχος” were in common enough use to overcome the feeling that they were negative compounds. — It will be noticed that the variant “ἀνίαχοι” has good support; it is used also by Quintus (xiii. 70) but it is impossible to say whether he took it to mean silent or noisy (of sheep following their shepherd from the pasture).

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

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