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[394] πολύδωροξ recurs only in this phrase, 22.88, Od. 24.294. Hesych. “πολλὰ λαβοῦσα δῶρα, πολύφερνος, πολύεδνος”, and Schol. A “πολλὰ ἕδνα παρὰ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς λαβοῦσα”. The “ἕδνα” were originally (see on 9.146) given not to the bride, but to her father, but of course the word may mean that she earned her parents large gifts, cf. 18.593 “ἀλφεσίβοιαι”. Or again “δῶρα” may indicate the gifts which human nature would prompt the suitor to offer when, as in Homeric days, woman had begun to assert her independence, and the “ἕδνα” were no more than a relic of the already extinct custom of the actual purchase of wives. But it does not seem quite natural to describe a wife as ‘having had many wedding-presents made to her.’ Others compare it with “ἠπιόδωρος” (251 above) in the sense of ‘generous,’ ‘open-handed,’ which is perhaps preferable.

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

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