Glad to see you're getting your 5 A Day, Aetos!
I think of it as my Mediterranean Diet!
Concerning ἀυτή:
I didn't want the week to go by without mentioning another aspect of the phrase this word appears in - "ἀμφήλυθε θῆλυς ἀυτή". I've been reading Nagler's
Spontaneity and Tradition and in the very first chapter, he mentions this phrase which was originally used by Parry to illustrate the resemblance of phrases playing a role in the production of new phrases.
There is not only the matter of sense, but that of sound. In the matter of sense, he reminds us that we must understand that the generation of an oral formula reflects the poet's worldview (not our own) and in this case, his perception of "the suffusion of sound and odor through their respective media". 'ἀμφήλυθε' has the sense of spreading in the same way as smell.
'θῆλυς ἀυτή' is referred to by Hainesworth in his notes as an "acoustic echo". While there is no other instance of ἀυτή in the Odyssey, there are similar sounding phrases, such as "ἀμφήλυθεν ἡδὺς ἀυτμή" (Od. 12.369)which could have prompted the poet to produce the phrase in 6.122.
Anyway, I'm late for Herodotus, so I'll leave it to Michael to perhaps shed some light or give a clearer explanation on this idea. BTW, Nagler's book is fascinating, but a bit like wading through treacle; however, that's probably more due to my experience level than the quality of his exposition.
EDIT: It appears that ἀυτή appears 4 times in the Odyssey (6.122,11.383,14.265,and 17.434)