W. Walter Merry, James Riddell, D. B. Monro, Commentary on the Odyssey (1886), Book 19 (τ）, line 300

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[300] σόος. The original form of this adj. is “σάος”, preserved in “σαώτερος” ( Il.1. 32), “σαόφρων”, and the verb “σαόω”. The form “σάον” is given as an ancient variant in Il.16. 252, where Aristarchus read “σόον” (this appears from the use made of Il.16. 252 in the notes of Didymus on Il.1. 117 and 9. 681). It is also found in a quotation of Il.1. 117 in Apollonius de conj. (Bekker's Anecdota, p. 489, 16). A trace of “σάος” also remains in the rare Attic neut. plur. “σᾶ” (for “σάα”, see on Od. 13.364).

The form σῶς, acc. “σῶν”, arose from the contraction of “σάος”. Aristarchus read “σῶς” and “σῶν” wherever the metre admits a long monosyllable. The MSS. are inconsistent: they read nom. “σῶς” wherever it is metrically possible, but always acc. “σόον”,—except in Il.17. 367, where one important family of MSS. (Mr. Allen's h) has “σῶν”.

The form σόος (“σόον, σόοι, σόη, σόα”) must have arisen by the process which produced “φόως” for “φάος, ὁρόω” for “ὁράω”, &c. That is to say, where the metre forbade the usual form “σῶς”, an approximation to it was made in the shape of “σόος” (H. G. § 55, 10). Thus “σόος” is a conventional form not drawn from any living dialect, and is necessarily later than the contraction of “σάος” to “σῶς”. Nevertheless it was adopted by Aristarchus where the metre required a disyllable.

Out of nine instances of “σῶς” and “σῶν” there is only one ( Il.22. 332) that does not admit “σάος, σάον”. It can hardly be assumed, however, that “σῶς” is a postHomeric contraction. The forms “σάος” and “σῶς” may have subsisted together, like “ἐΰ” and “εὖ, πάϊς” and “παῖς”.

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

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W. Walter Merry, James Riddell, D. B. Monro, Commentary on the Odyssey (1886)

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