Note 422 — Chapter XIII · MYTH IN THE HOMERIC POEMS.

It must be clearly understood that I am using the term 'Aeolic' in the modern (linguistic) sense. I am under the impression that Prof. Cauer uses the term in the same sense. The only difference, so far as I can see, between his terminology and mine is that—in accordance, I think, with general usage—I would include Boeotian as well as Thessalian and Lesbian-Aeolic in this category. Some ancient writers of course use the terms Αἰολεῖς and Αἰολίς in a totally different sense. Thus Thucydides (III 102) applies the name Αἰολίς to the district about Pleuron and Calydon, and again (IV 42) he speaks of the ancient inhabitants of Corinth as Αἰολῆς. There may be some difference of opinion as to whether the use of these names in such cases is due to the influence of genealogies—in the former case through Aethlios and Endymion, in the latter through Sisyphos—or whether the genealogies themselves are due to a current use of the names Αἰολεῖς, Αἰολίς, etc. The form Αἰολίδης in Il. VI 154, Od. XI 237 rather suggests that these names may have belonged to a family (or possibly a clan) before they came to be applied to a people; but into this question we need not enter. The term 'Aeolic' (in its linguistic sense) belongs properly to the Asiatic Aeolis, and this name itself is derived in all probability from the Thessalian Aeolis (cf. Herod. VII 176), the fatherland of the Asiatic Aeolians. There may possibly have been some connection between the reigning families of the Thessalian Aeolis and those at Calydon, Corinth and elsewhere which claimed descent from Aiolos; but there is not the slightest evidence that an Aeolic dialect (in the modern sense) was ever spoken at either Calydon or Corinth. It may be added that nothing but confusion of thought can arise from introducing into this discussion the terminology of writers of the Roman age (cf. especially Strabo VIII 1. 2), who apply the name 'Aeolic' to every dialect which is not Attic, Ionic or Doric.