SOL Search

Homer [writes]: "he/she/it brought to the light."[1] [Meaning] before the completion of the defined time. [Homer] says concerning gates too: "having been spread apart, they produced light."[2] Not so as to illuminate -- through the middle of the gate -- the city, but rather [providing] security for those taking flight. As in, "he made light for his comrades, hitting the man."[3]

*fo/ws: *(/omhros: h)/gage pro\ fo/wsde. pro\ th=s teleiw/sews tou= w(risme/nou kairou=. peri\ de\ tw=n pulw=n le/gei: ai( de\ petasqei=sai teu=can fa/os. w(s ou) dia\ me/shs th=s pu/lhs fwti/zesqai th\n po/lin, a)lla\ th\n swthri/an tw=n feugo/ntwn. w(s to/, fo/ws d' e(ta/roisin e)/qhken, a)/ndra balw/n.

The epic headword, neuter nominative/accusative singular (it is found in no other case or number), is a lengthening of fw=s (phi 671; LSJ s.v.), which in turn is a contraction of fa/os (phi 88; LSJ s.v.). The gloss employs the adverb of place (cf. Smyth, §342; Monro, 109).
[1] The quotation approximates both Homer, Iliad 16.188 (web address 1) and Homer, Iliad 19.118 (web address 2).
[2] Homer, Iliad 21.538, with scholion (web address 3). Zenodotus [zeta 75] rejected Homer, Iliad 21.538-9. Regarding this passage, the scholiast conjectured that Zenodotus understood fa/os "light" as "illumination" instead of figuratively as "salvation" (cf. Aristonicus in the A scholia; Erbse; Richardson, p. 98). Indeed, modern translators often follow the scholiast by translating fa/os here as "deliverance" (Murray, p. 445) or "haven of refuge" (Butler, web address 3).
[3] Homer, Iliad 6.6 (web address 4): illustrating fo/ws in the sense of "refuge, salvation."

H.W. Smyth, Greek Grammar, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1956.
D.B. Monro, A Grammar of the Homeric Dialect, Philadelphia, PA: W.H. Allen, 1992.
H. Erbse, Scholia Graeca in Homeri Iliadem, vols. I-VII, Berlin: de Gruyter, 1969-1988.
N. Richardson, The Iliad: A Commentary, vol. VI, gen. ed. G.S. Kirk, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
A.T. Murray, trans., W.F. Wyatt, rev., Homer: Iliad, Books 11-24, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999.

Catharine Roth (modified translation) on 13 August 2007@21:30:37.
Catharine Roth (added link) on 13 August 2007@23:16:29.
Catharine Roth (cosmetics) on 13 August 2007@23:58:56.
Catharine Roth (sorted links, modified notes, other cosmetics) on 14 August 2007@01:23:06.
David Whitehead (more x-refs; tweaks and cosmetics) on 14 August 2007@03:11:14.
Catharine Roth (upgraded links) on 8 July 2011@20:09:19.
David Whitehead on 15 December 2013@06:05:41.
Catharine Roth (cosmeticule) on 18 March 2023@00:20:48.

Suda On Line Search