Indo-European warriors in the Hindu Kush

'It is commonly admitted that the parent language possessed an adjectival suffix *-es- which served to create compound adjectives from neuter s-stem nouns. The type is usually illustrated by pointing to equations like δυσμενής = Skt. (not RV) durmanas-, Gatha-Av. dužmanah-, Late Av. dušmanah 'having an evil mind' from which a nom. sg. *dus-menēs is reconstructable.'

T. Meissner. S-stem nouns and adjectives in Greek and Proto-Indo-European: a diachronic study in word formation. (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2006): 161.

An Internet forum featured a discussion of the origins, spread, and modern use of this word in Hindi, Urdu, and beyond, especially on as spoken by a correspondent's grand-mother (!). More at Wiktionary, s.v.

The adjective is familiar from Greek poetry, but also appears in non-literary inscriptions (late 6th c. BC Arcadian; mid 5th c. Cretan  (a) (b)).

In this video, the eponymous faction of the Hezb-e-Islami is seen with its leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar somewhere in Pakistan or Afghanistan, at some time probably in the 1980s.

Listen to the word they sing over and over.

There's more from or about Hekmatyar elsewhere on Youtube.

The adjective δυσμενής appears in some Argive inscriptions (Colvin 2007, no. 38 = Buck, no. 85 = Schwyzer, no. 83a) and, according to Colvin (2007: 142), is 'found also in Crete, Gortyn Law Code'.

Colvin's reference must be VI 46 (near the end of that column: see above), where Schwyzer, DGE 179 has αἰ κ’ ἐδδυσμενίανς πε|ρα[θε͂ι κ]ἐˉκς ἀλλοπολίας (cf. SEG XXIII 567): 'if one is sold into hostile hands,... (Buck 1955: 327).

This section is damaged, particularly at this point in this line, as the close-up below shows:

Line 46 is the middle of the three lines in the close-up.

More recent editions have (ll. 46-50): vac. αἰ κ’ ἐδδυσ̣[άμενον] πέ|ραν[νδε] ἐκς ἀλλοπολίας ὐπ’ ἀν|άνκας ἐκόμενος κελομένοˉ τι|ς λύσεται, ἐπὶ το͂ι ἀλλυσαμέν|οˉι ἔˉμεˉν πρίν κ’ ἀποδο͂ι τὸ ἐπιβά|λλον.
'If someone liberates another on account of an obligation towards him from some city because he was found out of the boarder ...' (the translation from a locally-obtained guidebook). Better, Willetts (1967: 44): 'If anyone, bound by necessity (ὑπ’ ἀνάγκης ἐχόμενος), should get a man gone away to a strange place set free from a foreign city at his own request,...'.

We should not conclude too much about the attestation and distribution of a compound adjective from a gap on the stone (and on its casts).

Why we should be grateful for Hesychius...

In addition to ἐλύμνιαι, Hesychius contains the following gloss:
λυκίσκος· ἡ μὴ ἔχουσα ἀξονίσκον τροχιλία, τρῆμα δὲ μόνον h ἢ ἄνοδος δώματος (LSJ δόματος) gn.

(Sketch to follow)

The noun in question occurs only in one manuscript of Mark the Deacon's Life of Porphyrius 98 (so Jerusalem Ms. H: others οἰκίσκος and D.A. Russell's extract, no. 100, in An Anthology of Greek Prose, pp. 279-281):

Κατελθοῦσα δὲ διά τινος λυκίσκου εἰς τὸν αὐτῆς οἶκον, ἤγαγεν τὸν ψίαθον καὶ τύλην ἀχύρων· καθαπλώσασα τὸν ψίαθον ὑπέβαλεν τὴν τύλην, καὶ προσπεσοῦσα τοῖς ποσὶ
τοῦ μακαρίου, παρεκάλει αὐτὸν γεύσασθαι τῶν μετρίων αὐτῆς βρωμάτων καὶ μὴ ἀναξιοπαθῆσαι ἐπὶ τῇ πτωχείᾳ αὐτῆς· ἦν γὰρ καὶ πρὸς ἑσπέραν.

Hyphenation in LSJ

John Chadwick wrote in the 'Case for Replacing LSJ' (BICS 11 (1994): 2):
"One of the worst features of the 9th edition was certainly not the decision of the editors at all, but of the publisher. Every user must curse many times a day the idea of saving a little space by grouping words in long paragraphs. It would matter less that each lemma does not appear at the same point in the column, if at least it were given in full in bold type. Alas, the lemma is often reduced to three letters, two or even one letter, which not even bold type can render easily visible to the searching eye. In a lecture given in Oxford in 1948 R. W. Chapman, the Secretary to the Delegates of the Clarendon Press, under whom the project was launched, had the effrontery to claim credit for this astonishing lack of perceptivity. But this passage of his lecture was wisely omitted from the published text. What other damage he may have inflicted, I do not know."

This Chapman can also be found in the app.crit. to the OCT of Plato's Laws...


The run of words ὑπάλ-ειμμα, -ει-πτος, -ειπτρον, -ειπτρίς, -είφω, -ειψις (p. 1851) frames the problem neatly. Such hyphenation follows the formation of the words (ὑπ-, ἀλειπ-) nor their syllabification (ὑ-πα-λειμ-μα, etc.).

Such printing also obscures the accentuation in the ὑπάλ-, when followed by -ειπτρίς and -είφω, gives inexplicable, unnecessary, and impossible doubling of the accent on a single word (no enclitics are involved).

If that is possible, why should ὑπαλγέω, ὑπαλεαίνω, and ὑπαλεύομαι (all hyphenless) not be grouped under ὑπαλ- also, except on the criterion of a shared root and thus meaning? Cf. the ὑο- words which share a root, but have a range of meanings depending on the second element. Better still would be to divide at ὑπ-αλγέω, -αλεαίνω, -αλειμμα, etc.

The syllabification is a puzzling facet, since no less/other than H. Stuart Jones wrote 'Appendix V: Division of Greek Words', p. 75 in Horace Hart (M.A. Printer to the University of Oxford), Rules for Compositors and Readers at the University Press, 19th edn. (5th for publication): London and Oxford, 1905.

Based on papyri of Bacchylides, Thucydides, and Hypereides, he gives three exceptions to the rule that a syllable ends in a vowel:
(1) the consonant is doubled: Συρακούσ-σας, πολ-λῷ,  'and so' Βάκ-χος, Σαπ-φώ, Ἀτ-θίς;
(2) the first consonant is a liquid or nasal (or, according to some, a <σ>): ἄμ-φακες, ἐγ-χέσπαλον, τέρ-πον, πάν-τες, ἄλ-σος; ἄν-θρωπος, ἐρ-χθέντος, ἀν-δρῶν; but βά-κτρον, κάτο-πτρον, ἐχ-θρός; θέλ-κτρον, Λαμ-πτραί.
(3) Compounds. 'For modern printing the preference must be to divide the compounds παρ-όντος, ἐφ-ῃρημένος, but ἀπέ-βη may stand as well as ἀπ-έβη.'

A different issue surfaces in αἰνό-δακρυς, ὁ, = foreg., IG12(7).115 (Amorgos) [2nd/1st c. BCE]. Note the absence of an indication of inflection (-υος cf. πολύ-δακρυς) and a date for the inscription. The foreg(oing) is αἰνο-γόνος child of praise, which is a very different meaning. Was there ever an entry for *αἰνο-δάκρυος with which 'foreg.' would have been appropriate? Cf., e.g., πολυ-δάκρυος, but note that there '= sq.' directs the reader to πολύ-δακρυς for the meaning.

Some more compounds

From LSJ s.v.v.:

ἀνδρό-παις, αιδος, ὁ, man-boy, i. e. boy with a man's mind, of Parthenopaeus, A. Th.533; of Troilus, S.Fr.619, cf. Ar.Fr.53D.

ἀνδρό-πορνος, ὁ, cinaedus, Theopomp.Hist.17. - 'male prostitute' or 'man-whore' ?

ἀ-τυχής, but later μεσ(σ)ό-τυχος.

Possessive compounds: λεοντο-κέφαλος and -πρόσωπος. These are not nouns that refer to trophies or parts of rugs.
 
χρῡσο-σανδᾰλαιμοποτιχθονία, ἡ, goddess of the lower world wearing golden sandals and drinking blood, epith. of Hecate, Tab. Defix. in Rh.Mus.55.250 (-ατμο- lapis) = Audollent, 242.

ὠκῠ-πέδῑλος, ον, with swift sandals, swift-footed, Nonn.D.8.220.
ὠκύ-ᾰλος Il.15.705,
ὠκυ-πόδης Anth.5.222, ὠκύ-πος Anth.9.525.25 -πους Il.2.383

ὠκῠ-πέτης Il.8.42 advbl.
 
 

The book title of book titles

MacDonell's A Sanskrit Grammar for Students (Oxford, 1927: xiv) refers to a work called gaṇa-ratna-maho-dadhi 'the ocean of the gems of word-groups' by Vardhamāna in 1140.





This title surely puts the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae or Linguae Graecae to shame and in the shade.
  In relation to ratna, recall, from the first stanza of the first Vedic hymn to Agni (RV 1.1), ratna-dhā_tama(m) 'best bestower of ratna ('treasure')'. There are no IE cognates for ratna.

A Koine dvandva

DGE, but not LSJ (or the Rev.Supp.), has an entry for Διονυσο-πλάτων referring to a signet ring with a depiction not only of Dionysus (note the name of the witness and of his father), but also of Plato thereon: 'Dioniso-Platón, representación de Dioniso y Platón'.

The eighth of nine witnesses to P.Oxy. I 105 (118-138 CE) wrote/had written (lines 19-20): 
Διονύσιος Διον[υσ]ίου τ[ο]ῦ Διογένους ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτῆ[ς] πόλεως
μαρτ[υ]ρῶ[τῇ τοῦ Πεκύσιος διαθήκῃ, καὶ εἰμὶ] ἐτῶν τεσσαράκοντα ἕξ, οὐλὴ παρὰ κρόταφον δεξιόν, καὶ ἔστι μου ἡ σφραγὶς Διονυσοπλάτωνος.

The translation in the ed.pr. stops before the details of the witnesses...

From phrase to compound adjective

ἀγκύλα τόξα Il.5.209+ : ἀγκυλό-τοξος Il.2.484+


θρόνα ποικίλα Il.22.441 : ποικιλό-θρονος Sapph.1.1.

Pindar has ἀγλαό-γυιος (N.7.4) and -δενδρος (O.9.20) and the Homeric Hymn to Demeter has -δωρος, while Homer has ἀγλαά both of γυῖα (Il.19.385) and of δῶρα (Il.1.213+) and Pindar has it of δένδρα (O.2.70). The Odyssey has ἀγλαά ἔργα, while Maximus (hexameter 68, section 5 'about marriage') has ἀγλαο-εργός 'ennobled by works' (LSJ s.v.).

For Pindar's Ἀγλαο-τρίαινα (Ο.1.40), cf. N.11.4 ἀγλαῷ σκά̄πτρῳ πέλας.

δημιουργός [δημιοεργός (Od., Hdt.), δημιοργός (Ion.), δᾱμιοργός (Dor., NWGr., Arc., Boeot.), δᾱμιωργός (Astypal.), δᾱμιεργός (Astypal., Nisyr.) name of an official.] "from *δημιο-ϝεργός, in turn from <*>δήμια ἔργα with verbal reinterpretation of the second member after the types ψυχο-πομπός; partly from -ϝοργός." (Beekes, s.v.).

ἀκρὴ πόλις Il.6.88, 257 : ἀκρό-πολις Od.8.494+

κύνες πόδας ἀργοὶ (ἕποντο|) Il.18.578 (cf. 18.283 πρίν μιν κύνες ἀργοὶ ἔδονται. |): Πόδ- and πόδ-αργος. See Meissner-Tribulato 2002: 297.

πόδας ὠκὺς Ἀχιλλεύς Il.1.58+: ποδ-ώκης Il.2.860. (Contrast the order of elements in

ὠκῠ-πέδῑλος, ον, with swift sandals, swift-footed, Nonn.D.8.220).

οἰνο-βαρής Il.1.225: οἴνῳ βεβαρηότες Od.3.139, 19.122.

ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν (cf. Il.1.7) Ἀνάξ-ανδρος, Ἀναξ-ήνωρ, and Ἀναξ-ά̄νωρ.

From compound to personal name: 
λᾱο-σσόος Hom.+: a Boeotian Λαϝό-σοϝος CEG I 444. 

Mycenaean spiders and misspelled (?) hyacinths

DGE DMic, I, p. 122 has a-wa-ra-ka-na, in PY Un 1314,which may be related to ἀράχνη.
See Ventris-Chadwick Docs (2nd edn) 505 and 535: 'It is easier to make fun of the suggstion... than to suggest anything better;'.

Medicinal spiders, perhaps?

The ὑάκινθος appears with the spelling ἱακυνθο- as the first member of ἱακυνθοτρόφος, a compound epithet of Artemis in several inscriptions of Augustan date from Knidos.
The festival name ἱακυνθοτρόφια also occurs in some of these inscriptions, with which the more widespread spelling, ὑακινθοτρόφια, may be contrasted. LSJ reports the latter from Miletus only. Page suggested such a spelling in Alc.296b.8.

A coffin and being compos mentis

See this Roman period inscription from Mytilene: Λούκιος Βαλέρι|ος Διογένης ζῶν | καὶ φρονῶν κατεσ-|κεύασεν τὸ ἀνγεῖ-|ον ...

The ἀγγεῖον is the coffin or sarcophagus.
For φρονέω so used, cf. LSJ s.v. IV.

A neat example from Hesychius

ἄβαρις· ὁ ἠπειρώτης καὶ μὴ ἔχων βᾶριν.

You cannot say fairer than the second part of the explanation. The lemma is not reported from elsewhere and is based on βᾶρις, a loan word of Egyptian origin, perhaps itself the origin of English 'barge'. LSJ's having no boat, landsman inverts the glossographer's order.

Greek rugby

LSJ s.v. ἐπίσκῡρος reads, "ὁ, ball-game ( = ἐπίκοινος III) resembling Rugby football, Hsch., Poll.9.103, Sch.Pl.Tht.146a. II. governor, Call.Fr. 231, cf. Hsch.".

P.G.W. Glare in 'Liddell-Scott-Jones: Then and Now', Hyperboreus 3.2 (1997): 205-217, at 210, noted this entry and advised 'At the same time it is wise not to be too up-to-date. Under ἐπίσκυρος we have "a game resembly Rugby Football". This is no doubt more vivid than, say, "a ball game played between two sides", but it is dangerous to compare ancient with modern games, especially when there is, as is the case here, very little evidence. I can only say that, in so far as ancient sport showed a tendency to violence, the definition is more apt today than when Stuart Jones drafted it. Similarly ἀωιλιασταί are described as "navvies", a word with rich connotations in English, but quite [italics mine] unsuitable for the Greek context.'.

It is worth remembering that Glare was a Rugby player himself. Also, earlier in the article, indeed on the same page, he remarked on the ambiguity of English 'quite'. ἀωιλιασταί is a new entry in the 1968 Supplement (p. 29) for 'P.Cair.Zen.745.58 (iii BC)'. The same papyrus, which was published in 1931, is also cited in the revised entry for ἀωίλιον (line 61). In the Revised Supplement of 1996, these men were 'excavators'.

καπνιστήριο(ν): a Hellenistic, Byzantine, and Modern repeat neologism ?

The noun refers to a vapour bath or similar in a late Hellenistic inscription from Priene (other (conjectured) attestations), to a censer in the de Ceremoniis of Constantinus Porphyrogenitus (pp. 554-555), and, nowadays, to a smoking room (as a calque on French fumoir, salon á fumer).

νώνυμνος in the wild and εὐρώς

Ok, in a Rhodian verse epitaph (220-210 BCE), Ionic dialect, with epicisms: GVI 1451.
Forms with three instances of nu are Il. 3x, Od. 1x, Hes.WD 1x, Pi.O. 1x, Lychoph. 1x, AR. 2x.

Elegiac couplets from Delos (early 1st c. BCE) feature εὐρώς (line 8).

A dvandva compound: ~ brunch ?

Hesychius has ἀριστόδειπνον· ὅταν τὸ ἄριστον τῷ δείπνῳ συνάψωσιν.

The word is known from a fragment of Alexis (via Athenaeus) and, from Pollux VI 102, we know that it was used by Menander.  

'Christian' names

The LGPN website features some discussion of the impact of Christianity on Greek onomastics. It cites Χριστό-δουλος and Χριστο-φόρος as examples, to which Σταύριος
can be added. Γρηγόριος could also be mentioned (whence, Gregory, perhaps with reference, e.g. to Mark 13: 35, 37). E.A. Sophocles, p. 1006, cites Σταυράκιος 'little cross' as a proper name in Theoph(anes) 706 (d. 800; ed. C. de Boor).

LGPN quotes a passage from John Chrysostom, which, I think, is the following from De inani gloria et de educandis liberis (lines 645 ff. in Malingrey's CERF edition):

Εὐκαίρως δὲ ἀνεμνήσθην καί με νῦν ὑπῆλθεν ἀπὸ τοῦ ὀνόματος καὶ ἕτερόν τι νόημα. Ποῖον δὴ τοῦτο; εὐθέως αὐτοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς προσηγορίας παρέχωμεν ἀρετῆς ζῆλον. Μηδεὶς τοίνυν εἰς τὰ τῶν προγόνων σπευδέτω καλεῖν ὀνόματα τὰ παιδία, τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τῆς μητρὸς καὶ τοῦ πάππου καὶ τοῦ ἐπιπάππου, ἀλλ’ εἰς τὰ τῶν δικαίων, τῶν μαρτύρων, τῶν ἐπισκόπων, τῶν ἀποστόλων. Ἔστω αὐτοῖς καὶ τοῦτο ζῆλος· ὁ μὲν Πέτρος καλείσθω, ὁ δὲ Ἰωάννης, ὁ δὲ ἑτέραν τινὰ προσηγορίαν ἑνὸς τῶν ἁγίων. Καὶ μή μοι τὰ ἔθη τὰ ἑλληνικά. Οὐ μικρὰ γὰρ αἰσχύνη καὶ κατάγελως, ὅταν ἐν οἰκίᾳ χριστιανῶν ἔθη τινὰ ἑλληνικὰ ἐπιτελῆται καὶ λύχνους ἀνάπτωσι καὶ ἀναμένωσιν ἐπιτηροῦντες τὸν σβεσθέντα πρῶτον καὶ καυθέντα, καὶ ἕτερά τινα τοιαῦτα ἅπερ οὐ τὸν τυχόντα ὄλεθρον ἐπάγει τοῖς τοιαῦτα ποιοῦσιν. Μὴ γὰρ δὴ νομίσητε μικρὰ εἶναί τινα καὶ εὐτελῆ τὰ γινόμενα.

A partial translation helped to locate this passage.

On a partially related note, an adjective σταυρo-αναστάσιμος 'relating to the crucifixion and resurrection' is reported by E.A. Sophocles, p. 1006. See
Acta Monasterii Theotoci Euergetae, Synaxarium Triodii et Pentecostarii.  Day 23P l. 12 and Day 34P l. 8, in the context of ἀναστάσιμος and of σταυρώσιμος.

A Greek word known from the Greek of a Latin speaker

Marcus Aurelius has κοινονοημοσύνη (1.16[.2]), which is a hapax in the TLG. Several Latin authors use ἀκοινονόητος, which is not found in any Greek text in the TLG. LSJ translates aptly through the medium of French lacking in 'savoir-faire' (Lat. sensus communis).

su-ove-taur-ilia

Quintilian, I.5.67:
nam "Solitaurilia" iam persuasum est esse "Suovetaurilia", et sane ita se habet sacrum, quale apud Homerum quoque est. Sed haec non tam ex tribus quam ex particulis trium coeunt. Ceterum etiam ex praepositione et duobus vocabulis dure videtur struxisse Pacuvius: "Nerei repandirostrum incurvicervicum pecus."

As for Solitaurilia it is by now universally believed to stand for Suovetaurilia, a derivation which corresponds to the actual sacrifice, which has its counterpart in Homer as well. But these compounds are formed not so much from three words as from the fragments of three. On the other hand Pacuvius seems to have formed compounds of a preposition and two vocables (i.e. nouns) as in "The flock of Nereus snout-uplifted, neck-inarched": the effect is unpleasing.
The Homeric passage is Od.11.130-1:
ἕρξας ἱερὰ καλὰ Ποσειδάωνι ἄνακτι, | ἀρνειὸν ταῦρόν τε συῶν τ’ ἐπιβήτορα κάπρον,

Some Greek compounds

γλυκύ-πικρος (Sapph.130)
γύν-ανδρος (S.fr.+) and ἀνδρό-γυνος (Hdt. Pl.+) and γυναικ-άνηρ (Epicharmos)

προβατοκτηνο-τρόφος 'keeping sheep and cattle' (LSJ, s.v.: OGI 655, papyri)  implies *προβατό-κτηνος 'with or of sheep and cattle'.

ἱππό-ταυρος horse-bull LSJ, Heliodoros, Aithiopika X 29:
καὶ τὸν Θεαγένην λαμπρῶς ἐκθειάζειν ξένην τινὰ ταύτην ἱπποταύρου ξυνωρίδα
ζευξάμενον.

κλαυσί-γελως smiles mingled with tears LSJ, X.Hell. VII 2.9:
πάντας δὲ τοὺς παρόντας τότε γε τῷ ὄντι κλαυσίγελως εἶχεν.
(?) cf. Sall.Cat.61.9: ita varie per omnem exercitum laetitia, maeror, luctus atque gaudia agitabantur.

ἀμιτρο-χίτωνες in LSJ '... , οἱ, wearing no μίτρη (q.v.) with the χιτών, epith. of Lycian warriors, Il.16.419 ...'.

λευκο-έρυθρος (Arist.)
-μέλᾱς grey (LSJ): a combination or mixture of white and black rather than of animals like pandas (though, cf. Ailuropoda melano-leuca black and white cat-footed one) and of things like chess boards that are white and black.

χλωρο- (Galen) [also μελάγ- and μελανό- χλωρος], ὠχρό- (Dioscorides Ped.)

Cf. Sanskrit nīla-lohitá dark blue and red = dark red (A.A. MacDonell, A Vedic Grammar for Students, § 186 B 1 'The adjectives that designate colours, their combination expressing a mixture of the two').

Latin nouns in -a-ster

Augustine, City of God II.27 begins:
vir grauis et philosophaster Tullius aedilis futurus clamat in auribus ciuitatis...

-aster has been added to the stem philosoph-a-- (cf. philosophari, etc.).

Herein is Augustine's verdict on Marcus Tullius Cicero. He has in mind In Verrem 2.5[14.]36 and soon afterwards he refers to In Catilinam III [8.]20.

oleaster tri 'the wild olive' can be cited from Cicero, Sallust, Virgil, and Ovid. Whence oleastellus 'A cultivated variety of olive resembling the wild sort in its fruit' Col(umela) 12.51.3.

OLD's entry for this suffix (p. 191) also cites parasitaster (Terence, Adelpi 779). Cf. parasitari

Also of note is the name of the Pauline commentator Ambrosiaster. Apparently, this name 'Would<->be-Ambrose (perh. 'Ambrose-Wannabe') is not antique, but early modern.

ἀταλάφρονα Il.6.400 and Iliadic childhood

Il.6.400 reads παῖδ’ ἐπὶ κόλπῳ ἔχουσ’ ἀταλάφρονα νήπιον αὔτως, which could be redivided to give (at a colleague's suggestion) ἔχουσα ταλάφρονα νήπιον αὔτως (cf. Il.13.300). As is, ἀταλάφρονα 'tender-minded' is restated or explained by νήπιον. Indeed, νήπιον is one of the glosses given by Hesychius.

Could a child be described as 'stout-hearted, determined, stubborn'? Could νήπιον αὔτως mean 'yet still a child' marking a contrast with 'stout-hearted'? Babies and toddlers can be quite determined. This one used to eat 'only marrow and the rich fat of sheep' (Il.22.501). He will refused to go to Hector's arms (Il.6.467-470) and put up quite a fuss, but there fear seems to be the point (ἀτυχθείς, ταρβήσας, δεινόν). Il.22.486 has πάις δ’ ἔτι νήπιον αὔτως, a youth, yet still in infancy', which recalls 6.400 but with the important addition of δέ and ἔτι.

The transmitted adjective is regularly glossed by ἁπαλόφρων, which otherwise is only in Marcus Argentarius (Anth.7.403).

The transmitted adjective is otherwise only in Q.S.13.122-123, which shares other items of vocabulary with the Iliadic passage: Οἰμωγὴ δ’ ἀταλάφρονας ἔκβαλεν ὕπνου | νηπιάχους τῶν οὔ πω ἐπίστατο κήδεα θυμός. For νηπιάχους (Il.6.408), cf. GVI 741 (2nd. c. CE or later).

The form expected from ἀταλός would be ἀταλ-ό-φρων, which is attested epigraphically and as a personal name.

Leumann proposed that ἀταλός is a ghost word that arose in the epic tradition when (de-adjectival) *ἀταλαφρονέων was misunderstood as ἀταλὰ φρονέων (cf. Il.18.567 masc.nom.pl., Hes.Th.989 masc.acc.sg., hHom.2.24 fem.nom.sg.). As M.L. West noted, other members of the word group (esp. ἀτιτάλλω and, at Gortyn, ἀτιτάλτᾱς) imply great antiquity for ἀταλός, whose neut.pl.super.adv. appears as early as the Dipylon Oenochoe (closely comparable to the neut.pl.adv. in Hom. Hes. and hHom.). Beekes wrote:

"This [*ἀταλαφρονέων ] is based on ἀταλάφρων, and this again is the negation of ταλάφρων. Although it explains the compositional vowel α, the whole analysis is too complicated.".

Perhaps, then, it is simpler to address the question of "the compositional vowel α" in isolation from ἀταλός and its derivatives. There seems to be a word group based on a real stem ἀταλο-. The adjective ἀταλάφρων should be investigated in isolation: (1) is it the negative of ταλάφρων, misunderstood by later poets, namely Quintus Smyrnaeus? (2) Is it the product of misanalysis of the Iliadic line? (3) Or should a correction to ἀταλόφρονα be implemented?

(1) For alpha privative as the third element of a compound, cf. ἀνιπτόπους in the Iliad, ἀταλαίπωρος said to be first in Aeschylus and Thucydides, ἀωρόνυκτος in Aeschylus, and ἀπειρομάχᾱς in Pindar. It is possible that it was misunderstood within the Homeric tradition, but not such that it gave rise to ἀταλός.

(3) Later poets certainly saw ἀταλάφρονα in Il.6.400 and understood it as 'tender-minded'. By contrast apart from the epigraphy mentioned above, ἀταλόφρονα has left its mark in Hsch. (glossed by νήπια [neut.pl.!], ἁπαλόφρονα), in the scholia to Hes.Op.130 ἀτάλλων (ὁ μετ’ ἐπιμελείας τρεφόμενος, καὶ ὡς ἂν νηπιάζων ἀταλλόφρων (sic),...), and in the Encomium in sanctum Isacium et Dalmatum 29, an eighth-/ninth-century work by Michael Syncellus. Therefore it seems unlikely that ἀταλόφρονα had the prestige of a recherché Homeric epithet.

(θ)εἱλόπεδον (Od.7.123) is an intriguing question involving similar phenomena. See Dubois RPh. 71 (1997): 162. A non-verse inscription (not dated) from Caria turned up θιλοπ[, which has been taken as evidence for the currency of θειλόπεδον in its own right, not as a misunderstanding of εἱλοπεδον.