Discussion of the Nile (Neilos) and multiple place-names (Melos, Delos, Telos, Bēlos, etc.), with etymologies and phonological/accentuation rules for disyllabic words ending in -λος (eta dropping, accent shifts).
δὲ κατὰ πάθος. καὶ τὸ Νεῖλος βαρύνεται. ἔστι δὲ ποταμὸς Αἰγύπτου. Ἑκαταῖος περιηγήσει αὐτῆς «καὶ ἱρὸν Νείλου τοῦ ποταμοῦ». λέγεται δὲ κατὰ διάλεκτον Νῆλος. καὶ τὸ δειλός ὀξύνεται. Τὰ εἰς 'λος' δισύλλαβα κύρια τῷ 'η' παραληγόμενα περισπᾶται, οἷον Μῆλος Μαντοῦς υἱός, ἀφ´ οὗ Μαλόεις τόπος ἐν Λέσβῳ, ὡς Ἑλλάνικος ἐν Λεσβιακῶν πρώτῳ καὶ Μῆλος μία τῶν Κυκλάδων ὁμώνυμον ἔχουσα πόλιν. ἔστι καὶ κώμη τῆς Ἀκαρνανίας. Βῆλος ὁ Ζεύς καὶ Βῆλος ἡ καὶ Μῆλος πρὸς ταῖς Ἡρακλέους στήλαις ἀμφοτέρων ἐτύμως λεγομένων τῷ τοὺς ἀρχαιοὺς βηλὸν λέγειν τὸν οὐδὸν τῆς θύρας καὶ ταύτην κεῖσθαι παρὰ τὸν οὐδὸν τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ. Μῆλος δὲ καὶ Μηλαρία δύο πόλεις ἐπὶ τοῖς πέρασι, τὴν αὐτὴν ἔμφασιν ἔχουσιν ἀπὸ τῆς κλήσεως τῶν μήλων, ἃ χρύσεα λέγεται Ἡρακλῆς ἐκ τῆς Λιβύης ἀγηοχέναι. Δῆλος μία τῶν Κυκλάδων. ἢ παρὰ τὰς γονάς· ἱερὸν γὰρ Δῆλος τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος τοῦ θεοῦ πρῶτον ἐν αὐτῇ γενομένου. ἢ διὰ τὰς μαντείας· δηλοῦσα γὰρ τὰ δυσεύρετα. Σφῆλος ὄνομα κύριον. Τῆλος νῆσος τῶν Κυκλάδων ὁμοφώνως τῷ οἰκιστῇ. Ζῆλος πόλις τῶν ἑσπερίων Αἰθιόπων. Ἦλος κύριον. Ἔτι τὰ εἰς 'λος' δισύλλαβα προσηγορικὰ ἢ ἐπιθετικὰ τῷ 'η' παραληγόμενα, εἰ ἔχοι ἄφωνον πρὸ τοῦ 'η', ὀξύνεται, πηλός, βηλός ὁ οὐδός, χηλός, φηλός. τὸ μέντοι ἧλος καὶ ζῆλος βαρύνεται, οὐδὲ γὰρ ἄφωνον ἔχει. τὸ δὲ δῆλος ἐπιθετικὸν ἀπὸ δέελος κατὰ συναίρεσιν τῶν δύο 'εε' εἰς 'η' γέγονεν.
Some are so by affectional change. Thus Νεῖλος is given a grave accent; it is a river of Egypt. Hecataeus in his Circuit of the Earth says: «and a sanctuary of Νεῖλος the river». But according to dialect it is said Νῆλος. And δειλός is given an acute accent.
Disyllabic proper names in -λος with η in the penult take the circumflex, for example Μῆλος, the son of Mantoüs, from whom comes Μαλόεις, a place in Lesbos, as Hellanicus says in the first book of the Lesbiaca; and Μῆλος, one of the Cyclades, having a city of the same name. There is also a village of Acarnania. Βῆλος, Zeus; and Βῆλος, which is also Μῆλος, near the Pillars of Heracles—both correctly so called because the ancients used to call the threshold of a door βηλός, and this island lies by the threshold of Ocean. Μῆλος and Μηλαρία, two cities at the ends, have the same force of meaning from the naming of the μῆλα, which Heracles is said to have driven from Libya, being golden. Δῆλος, one of the Cyclades: either from the knees, for Δῆλος is sacred because Apollo the god was first born in it; or because of the oracles, for it makes clear what is hard to find. Σφῆλος is a proper name. Τῆλος, an island of the Cyclades, with the same sound as its founder. Ζῆλος, a city of the western Ethiopians. Ἦλος, a proper name.
Further, disyllabic appellatives or adjectives in -λος with η in the penult, if they have a mute before the η, take the acute: πηλός, βηλός ‘threshold’, χηλός, φηλός. But ἧλος and ζῆλος take the grave, for they do not have a mute. And the adjective δῆλος, from δέελος, has come about by contraction of the two εε into η.