2. ἐρυθρὸς is evidently the same word with the Latin ruber, and with our own ‘ruddy,’ as well as probably the German roth.
It is used by Homer for
a. Copper in Il. ix. 365.
b. Nectar, Il. xix. 38.
c. Wine, Od. v. 93.
d. Blood: in ἐρυθαίνω, Il. x. 484.
3. πορφύρεος again is the Latin purpura, and our ‘purple,’ as well as our ‘porphyry.’ In the uses of this word we shall find for the first time a startling amount of obvious discrepancy: and it will require to be considered in the proper place, whether this discrepancy is to be referred to a bold exercise of the Poet’s art, or to an undeveloped knowledge and a consequently defective standard of colour.
The word πορφύρεος is employed as follows for objects of sense:
a. Blood, Il. xvii. 361.
b. Dark cloud, ibid. 551.
c. Wave of a river when disturbed, Il. xxi. 326.
d. Wave of the sea, Il. i. 482; and the disturbed sea, Il. xvi. 391.
e. The ball with which the Phæacian dancers played, Od. viii. 373.