Discussion of place-names and ethnonyms (Βλαισός, Τραυσός, Ταρσός, etc.) ending in -σος; rules about accentuation and syllable weight for words in -σος and related endings; examples and etymologies (Tarsus, Agathyrsi, tribes in Macedonia, Thrace, Cilicia, Libya).
βλαισός, Βραισός ἔθνος Μακεδονίας. Τραυσός πλησίον Κελτοῖς ἔθνος, οὓς οἱ Ἕλληνες Ἀγαθύρσους ὀνομάζουσι. τὸ μέντοι Ναῖσος βαρύνεται καὶ τὸ Βλαῖσος κύριον καὶ τὸ Κροῖσος καὶ Βροῦσος Ἠμαθίου παῖς καὶ τὸ ἔθνος Μακεδονίας ὁμοφώνως. τινὲς δὲ γράφουσι διὰ τοῦ 'υ', καὶ τὸ γαῖσος προσηγορικὸν εἶδος δόρατος ὄν. Τὰ εἰς 'σος' δισύλλαβα ἔχοντα πρὸ τέλους συλλαβὴν εἰς ἀμετάβολον λήγουσαν βαρύνεται· εἰ δέ τι εὑρέθη ὀξυνόμενον, τοῦτο ὤφθη ἐν τῇ πρὸ τέλους συλλαβῇ ἔχον 'ι' ἢ 'α'. καὶ βαρύνεται μὲν ταῦτα, κόρσος ὁ κρόταφος, μόλσος ὁ δήμιος καὶ τὸ σέλινον, μόρσος, χέρσος, θύρσος, μύρσος, Μέλσος. σεσημείωται πυρσός ὀξυνόμενον, τὸ κιρσός καὶ ὀρσός καὶ Κορσός τὸ ἔθνος καὶ Μαρσός ἔθνος Ἰταλικὸν καὶ τὸ ταρσός τὸ προσηγορικὸν καὶ πόλις Κιλικίας. Ταύτην δὲ διὰ τοῦ 'ε' ἔλεγον Τερσόν παρὰ τὸ τερσανθῆναι, ὅ ἐστιν ἀναξηρανθῆναι. τῶν γὰρ ὑδάτων κατὰ τὴν πρώτην σύστασιν προχωρούντων εἰς τὸ νῦν πέλαγος φασὶν ἀναφανθῆναι πρῶτα τὰ Ταυρικὰ ὄρη. οἱ δέ φασιν Τερσὸν τὰ πρῶτα διὰ τοῦ 'ε' στοιχείου ὀνομασθῆναι τὴν πόλιν διὰ τὸ τοὺς ἐκεῖ πρώτους συναγαγόντας καρπὸν χλωρὸν τερσῆναι, ὅ ἐστι ξηρᾶναι, καὶ εἰς χειμῶνος ἀποθέσθαι τροφήν. Διονύσιος δὲ ὁ Θρᾷξ ἐν τῷ περὶ Ῥόδου ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ Βελλεροφόντου πτώσεως· μέρος γάρ τι τοῦ ποδὸς ταρσὸν καλεῖσθαι, τῆς ἐκείνου χωλείας ὑπόμνημα ποιουμένων τῶν ἀρχαίων. Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ ὁ πολυίστωρ διὰ τὸ τὸν Πήγασον ἵππον ἐκεῖ τὸν ταρσὸν κλάσαι καὶ Βελλεροφόντην ἐν τῷ Ἀληΐῳ πεδίῳ πλανηθῆναι. Ἐρατοσθένης δέ φησιν τὴν κλῆσιν τῇ πόλει εἶναι ἀπὸ Διὸς Τερσίου τοῖς ἐκεῖ καλουμένου. Θαρσός δὲ ἐκαλεῖτο καὶ Θαρσεῖς οἱ Κίλικες, ὡς Ἰώσηπος ἐν ἀρχαιολογίᾳ ( 1, 7). ἔστι δὲ καὶ Ταρσός ἄλλη τῆς Βιθυνίας, ἣν Δημοσθένης ἐν δευτέρῳ Βιθυνιακῶν Τάρσειαν διὰ τῆς 'ει' διφθόγγου οἶδεν. Τὰ δὲ ὑπερδισύλλαβα ἔχοντα πρὸ ἀμεταβόλου τὸ 'α' ἐν τῇ πρὸ τέλους συλλαβῇ βαρύνεται, Βάγαρσος, Μάγαρσος πόλις Κιλικίας. Μαίμαρσος πόλις Ἴστρων. Μόκαρσος Θρᾴκης χωρίον. Θεόπομπος πρώτῳ τῶν Φιλιππικῶν. Τούτοις ἀκολουθεῖ καὶ τὸ Ἀγάθυρσος εἴτε κύριον εἴτε ἐθνικὸν εἴη. ἔστι δὲ ἔθνος ἐνδοτέρω τοῦ Αἵμου. κέκληνται δὲ ἢ ἀπ´ Ἀγαθύρσου τοῦ Ἡρακλέους ἢ ὡς Πείσανδρος ἀπὸ τῶν θύρσων τοῦ Διονύσου. λέγονται καὶ Ἀγαθύρσιοι. καὶ τὸ Πέτορσος Λιβύης ἔθνος μέγα καὶ πολυάνθρωπον, Ἄορσος ἔθνος
βλαισός, Βραισός: a people of Macedonia. Τραυσός: a people near the Celts, whom the Greeks call Ἀγαθύρσοι. Ναῖσος, however, is accented with a grave, and likewise the proper name Βλαῖσος and Κροῖσος and Βροῦσος, son of Ἠμάθιος, and the Macedonian people, all with the same accentuation. Some, however, write with 'υ', and also γαῖσος, a common noun, being a kind of spear.
Disyllables in -σος, having before the final syllable a syllable ending in an unchangeable consonant, are accented with a grave; but if anything is found accented with an acute, this is seen to have in the penult an 'ι' or an 'α'. And these are accented with a grave: κόρσος ‘the temple’, μόλσος ‘the executioner’ and σέλινον, μόρσος, χέρσος, θύρσος, μύρσος, Μέλσος. Marked as exceptional, with acute accent, are πυρσός, κιρσός and ὀρσός and Κορσός, the people, and Μαρσός, an Italian people, and ταρσός, the common noun, and the city of Cilicia.
This, with 'ε', they used to say Τερσόν, from τερσανθῆναι, that is, ‘to be dried up’. For when the waters, in their first formation, advanced into what is now the sea, they say that the Tauric mountains first appeared. Others say that the city was first named Τερσόν with the letter 'ε', because those who first gathered grain there dried (τερσῆναι) green produce there—that is, dried it—and stored it as food for winter.
But Dionysius the Thracian, in his work On Rhodes, derives it from the fall of Bellerophon: for some part of the foot is called ταρσός, the ancients making it a reminder of his lameness. Alexander Polyhistor, however, says it is because the horse Pegasus there broke his ταρσός and Bellerophon wandered in the Aleian plain. Eratosthenes says that the city’s name is from Zeus Τέρσιος, as he is called there.
It was also called Θαρσός, and the Cilicians were called Θαρσεῖς, as Josephus says in the Antiquities ( 1, 7). There is also another Ταρσός in Bithynia, which Demosthenes in the second book of the Bithynian speeches knows as Τάρσειαν with the diphthong 'ει'.
Polysyllables having before an unchangeable consonant an 'α' in the penult are accented with a grave: Βάγαρσος, Μάγαρσος, a city of Cilicia; Μαίμαρσος, a city of the Ister-lands; Μόκαρσος, a place in Thrace—Theopompus in the first of the Philippics. To these belongs also Ἀγάθυρσος, whether it is a proper name or an ethnic. It is a people farther inland than Haemus. They are called either from Ἀγάθυρσος, son of Heracles, or, as Peisander says, from the thyrsoi of Dionysus. They are also called Ἀγαθύρσιοι. And Πέτορσος, a great and populous people of Libya; Ἄορσος, a people.