αἴλινον, a loud, wild cry of grief, which for the Greeks had barbaric associations; cp. Eur. Or. 1395“αἴλινον αἴλινον ἀρχὰν θανάτου ι βάρβαροι λέγουσιν, αἰαῖ”, | “Ἀσιάδι φωνᾷ κ.τ.λ.” The mother's passionate grief will break forth in a cry of shrill anguish,—not in more subdued and plaintive accents, like those of the nightingale's lament. The contrast meant here is plain enough; though in some other places, where the bitter grief of the nightingale is the fore<*>st thought, the bird's note is sometimes described as ‘piercing’; e.g. Soph. Tr. 963“προὔκλαιον, ὀξύφωνος ὡς ἀηδών” (cp. Soph. El. 107 ff.). ἀηδοῦς in apposition with “ὄρνιθος”: cp. Eur. H. F. 465“στολήν τε θηρὸς ἀμφέβαλλε σῷ κάρᾳ ι λέοντος”. For the form, cp. voc. “ἀηδοῖ” ( Ar. Av. 679), “χελιδοῖ” ( Ar. Av. 1411 etc.), “εἰκώ” acc. ( Eur. Med. 1162 etc.), “εἰκούς” acc. pl. ( Eur. Tro. 1178). No nom. “ἀηδώ, χελιδώ”, or “εἰκώ” occurs. Conversely “γοργώ” is the regular nom., but the genit. either “γοργοῦς” ( Il. 8. 349) or “γοργόνος”, and the pl. always “γοργόνες”. Schol. in L: “ἡ ἀηδὼ δὲ κατὰ Μιτυληναίους”.
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Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part VII: The Ajax. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1907.
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