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In the Hymn to Demeter (13), I came across this phrase: κῶδιστ’ ὀδμῆ. I'm guessing that κῶδιστ’ reflects the joining of καί and ἥδιστα; but where does the omega come from? Is there another word involved?

~Nicholas

What edition of the Demeter hymn are you using? Both Perseus and my Loeb of the Homerica start line 13 as

κῶζ ἥδιστ) ὀδμή

My notes say that κῶζ means " and smelled/was scented", since it is indeed a combination of καί + ὤζε

Sorry, I should have mentioned that I was using Richardson's edition; and the phrase is the editor's conjecture. Any ideas what he had in mind?

~Nicholas

Ah, could it be, perhaps, a combination of κῶζ and ἥδιστα?

In the Hymn to Demeter (13), I came across this phrase: kw=dist' o)dmh=. I'm guessing that kw=dist' reflects the joining of kai/ and h(/dista; but where does the omega come from? Is there another word involved?

without even looking at the meaning, the form κῶδιστ’ doesn't make sense to me unless i'm having a mental blank which is of course v possible

the accent breaks the law of limitation; the only forms i can think of which break that law are some in the attic 2nd decl e.g. ἵλεως.

shouldn't there be a coronis as well, i.e. the breathing mark with a different name where crasis occurs, if it's kai/ + a vowel-initial word?

I double checked to make sure that I had copied it correctly. But I was wrong in saying that it was the editor's conjecture. I looked at the apparatus more closely, and actually it comes from a medieval (15th C.) manuscript. He provides a few conjectures from other editors, so perhaps it's just a mistake in transmission that hasn't been cleared up. Helen Foley uses Richardson's text for her dual language edition, and she doesn't offer any explanation. (I forget how she translates it; I don't have the book with me now.)

I'll be sure to mention if I ever learn anything more about it.

~Nicholas