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[250] Nestor is represented as having lived through more than two generations, and still being a king in the third; i.e. between his 70th and 100th years, if with the Greeks we count three “γενεαί” to a century. In Od. 3.245 he is said to have reigned over three generations, which seems to be an instance of the growth of the legendary into the miraculous. μερόπων, an epithet of which the real sense was in all probability forgotten in Homeric days, as it is used only in purely stereotyped connexion with “ἄνθρωποι” (exc. 2.285, q.v.). We can only say with confidence that it does not mean ‘articulate,’ “μερίζοντες τὴν ὄπα”, as in so ancient a word the “ϝ” of “ϝόψ” would not be neglected. The other derivations which have been proposed are quite problematical.

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

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