Discussion of place-name Olizon and its vowel/accent alternations; ethnonym Amazons with etymologies and forms; treatment of adjectives/nouns in -θων and examples (Οθων, Μαθων, Πυθων), phonological and morphological notes.
τῆς εὐδαιμονίας τῆς χώρας ἐπῃρμένους τοῦ 'α' εἰς τὸ 'ι' τραπέντος. ὀλίζων· τὸ δὲ Ὀλιζών πόλις Θετταλίας—Ἑκαταῖος Εὐρώπῃ «καὶ Πιτύειαν ἔχον καὶ Ὀλιζῶνα τρηχεῖαν» (Il. Β 717)—κλίνεται διὰ τοῦ 'ω' καὶ ὀξύνεται πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν τοῦ «λαοὶ δ´ ὑπ´ ὀλίζονες ἦσαν» (Σ 519). ὠνομάσθη δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ μικρὰ εἶναι. Θεσσαλοὶ γάρ, ὡς ἱστορεῖ Δημοσθένης ἐν κτίσεσι, τὸ μικρὸν ὄλιζον καλοῦσι. τὸ δὲ Ἀμαζών ἔχει μακρὸν τὸ 'α'· ἔστι δὲ ἔθνος γυναικεῖον πρὸς τῷ Θερμώδοντι, ὡς Ἔφορος. τινὲς ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐστερῆσθαι μαζῶν· ἀπίθανος δὲ ἡ τοιαύτη ἐτυμολογία· Θεμισταγόρας δὲ καὶ ἐν τῇ χρυσῇ βίβλῳ φησίν «ὅτι κατὰ τὴν Ἀλόπην τὴν νῦν καλουμένην Λυκίαν τὴν πρὸς τῇ Ἐφέσῳ γυναῖκες μίᾳ συμβουλῇ τὰ συνήθη ταῖς γυναιξὶν ἔργα ἀπαρνησάμεναι καὶ ζώναις χρησάμεναι καὶ ὁπλισμοῖς τὰ τῶν ἀνδρῶν πάντα ἐπετήδευον· πρὸς δὲ τὰ ἄλλα καὶ ἤμων σὺν αὐταῖς ζώναις, ὅ ἐστιν ἐθέριζον. διὰ τοῦτο καὶ Ἀμαζόνας κεκλῆσθαι τὰς σὺν ταῖς ζώναις ἀμώσαις». ἢ ὅτι τὸν ἕνα τῶν μαζῶν ἔκαιον χάριν τοῦ τοξεύειν ἢ ὅτι μάζαις οὐκ ἐχρῶντο, ἀλλ´ ὄφεσι καὶ σκορπίοις καὶ σαύραις καὶ χελώναις. οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ μητρὸς Ἀμαζοῦς. λέγεται δὲ καὶ Ἀμαζών ἀρσενικῶς ὡς παρὰ Καλλιμάχῳ «ἵν´ Ἀμαζόνες ἄνδρες ἔωσιν». τὸ δὲ ἀλαζών ὁ ὑπερήφανος μακρὸν ἔχον τὸ 'α' ὀξύνεται· τὸ δὲ ἐπὶ ἔθνους ὁμόρου τοῖς Σκύθαις φυλάττει τὸ 'ω' ἐν ταῖς πλαγίαις πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολήν. Τὰ εἰς 'θων' δισύλλαβα ἀρσενικὰ βαρύνεται, ὁπότε μὴ ἐθνικὰ εἴη ἢ περιεκτικά, μόθων, οὕτω γὰρ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὸν οἰκογενῆ δοῦλον καλοῦσιν, οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι οἰκότριβά φασι, σημαίνει δὲ καὶ εἶδος αἰσχρᾶς καὶ ἀπρεποῦς ὀρχήσεως, Ὄθων, Μάθων ὁ Θηβαῖος, πίθων ὁ πίθηκος ὑποκοριστικῶς, Ῥίνθων, αἴθων, ῥώθων, κώθων εἶδος ποτηρίου καὶ τὸ ἐν τῇ συνηθείᾳ ἐφ´ ὕβρει λεγόμενον καὶ νῆσος οὐ πόρρω Κυθήρων. Ἀρτεμίδωρος. μάλθων ὁ μαλθακός. Πύθων ὁ δράκων.
Of the prosperity of the land, with the ‘α’ raised, having been changed into ‘ι’. ὀλίζων: but Ὀλιζών, a city of Thessaly—Hecataeus in the Europa: “and holding Pityeia and rugged Ὀλιζώνα” (Il. Β 717)—is declined with ‘ω’ and is accented with an acute, in contrast to “and the peoples were fewer” (Σ 519). And it was named from being small; for the Thessalians, as Demosthenes relates in the Foundations, call what is small ὄλιζον. But Ἀμαζών has the ‘α’ long; and it is a nation of women by the Thermodon, as Ephorus says. Some derive it from being deprived of breasts; but such an etymology is implausible. Yet Themistagoras also in the Golden Book says that “in the region of Ἀλόπη, now called Lycia, near Ephesus, women, by a single plan, renouncing the customary tasks for women and using belts and arms, practiced all the pursuits of men; and besides the other things, they lived with them with belts, that is, they reaped. For this reason too they were called Ἀμαζόνες, those who with their belts reaped.” Or because they burned one of their breasts for the sake of shooting with the bow; or because they did not use barley-cakes, but snakes and scorpions and lizards and tortoises. Others derive it from a mother Ἀμαζοῦς. And Ἀμαζών is also said in the masculine, as in Callimachus: “that the Amazons may be men.” But ἀλαζών, “the arrogant man,” with long ‘α’, is accented with an acute; but the word applied to a people bordering on the Scythians preserves ‘ω’ in the oblique cases, by way of contrast. Disyllabic masculines in -θων are accented with a grave, whenever they are not ethnic or collective: μόθων—for thus the Lacedaemonians call the home-born slave, while the Athenians say οἰκότριβας—and it also signifies a kind of shameful and unseemly dance; Ὄθων; Μάθων the Theban; πίθων, the monkey, as a diminutive; Ῥίνθων; αἴθων; ῥώθων; κώθων, a kind of cup, and also the word used in common speech as an insult, and an island not far from Cythera. Artemidorus. μάλθων, “the soft man.” Πύθων, the serpent.