94 



SYLVA CRITICA CANADENSIUM. 



Electra. ^AXk' ifii y a axovoBaa apapsv <ppivaz, 'A " Iruv, dcsv ^ Irov 

 dXo(pbp£Tai, ^'opviq dzu^opiiva, (Sophocles, Electra, v. 147.) 



^scliylus (Agamemnon, vv. 1110 foil.) puts similar language into 

 the mouth of the Chorus with regard to Cassandra's dirge. The name 

 Itys is, of course, an onomatopoeia. It is superfluous to multiply 

 examples; a few of the more striking ones will serve our purpose. In 

 addition to those mentioned above, we may take Homer, Odyssey, B. 

 XIX., V. 522; Catullus, Ode LXV., v. 14; Yirgil, Georgics, B. lY., 

 V. .514. 



In all these passages it is the infelix avis, the "hapless bird," 

 which is present to their thoughts. From these considerations I 

 have been tempted to propose dw^ and cano as a probable derivation. 

 Dus is the prefix which we find in the compounds dij(T7]j(rj<;, duffdpooq 

 and other words; with the notion of " hard, bad, unlucky, &c." The 

 letters d and I are, as is well known, interchangeable, cp. e.g. 8dxpup.a 

 and lacruma "a tear." Thus luscinia would be the "plaintive 

 songstress." 



