Clearly the word HAS been misspelled, and if it fits the context, HRWTHSAN
is the logical candidate for HQWTHSAN; another potential candidate would be
that it's a misspelling for HQETHSAN from AQETEW, "reject," "nullify."
The procedure I recommend to students is to analyze the verb into its
probable constituent elements:
1. H- is most likely the augment for a verb-stem beginning with
either A- or E-.
2. -SAN is clearly a 1st aorist 3 pl. active ending.
3. -H- preceding -SAN most likely derives from lengthening the stem
vowel--either -A- or -E- -- of a contract vowel.
4. Therefore, given the form HQWTHSAN, one looks for a lexicon
entry among the following possibilities: AQWTEW, EQWTEW, AQWTAW, EQWTEW.
5. If there is no lexicon entry for any of these forms, then there
must have been an error in the form as originally recorded. Isidoros
thought immediately of Q miswritten for R; I thought of W miswritten for E;
but in any case, it seemed highly likely that there was an error in the
recorded form.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/