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[387] τρύξοντα ἓ αὐτόν, cp. for the metre Il.17. 551“πυκάσασα ἓ αὐτήν”. We get rid of one hiatus by writing either ‘“ϝὲ αὐτόν” or “ἕϝ᾽ αὐτόν”, but we cannot account in this way for both. The anomaly is probably due to causes similar to those which produced the Attic “σεαυτόν” and “ἑαυτόν” as alternatives with “σαυτόν” and “αὑτόν”. Ahrens and Brugmann (Griech. Gr.^{2} p. 133), suppose that the genitives “σέο αὐτοῦ, ϝ̔έο αὐτοῦ”, passing into “σεαυτοῦ, ἑαυτοῦ”, were the model on which other cases were formed. This view is strongly supported by the form “ϝεαυτῶ” (gen.) found in the Cyprian dialect. Wackernagel (K. Z. xxvii. 279) finds the solution in the double forms tev, tve and sev, sve. Thus he treats “ἑαυτόν” and “αὑτόν” as “ἕϝ᾽ αὐτόν” and “ϝ̓̔ αὐτόν” respectively. The two explanations are not wholly incompatible, since “ἑϝ᾽ αὐτόν” and “ϝ̔εαυτόν” may have both existed, and after the loss of “ϝ” would both become “ἑαυτόν”. In Homer, however, the hiatus of “ϝ̔ὲ αὐτόν” is easily accounted for by the analogy of “ἕο αὐτοῦ” and “οἷ αὐτῷ”. We may compare “ἄφθιτα αἰεί” in Il.13. 22, due to the recurring “ἄφθιτον αἰεί”: also “μέροπες ἄνθρωποι” ( Il.18. 288), due to “μερόπων ἀνθρώπων”, &c. But “ἕϝ᾽ αὐτήν” may be recognized in Il.14. 162“εὖ ἐντύνασαν ἓ αὐτήν”.

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

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