λα- + αὔω2
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Quotation
Comm. Il. 1, 38: Ὅτι λαοὶ παρὰ τὸ λα ἐπιτατικὸν μόριον καὶ τὸ αὔω, τὸ φωνῶ· ἐξ ὧν λααυὸς καὶ κατὰ κρᾶσιν λαὸς ἐκπεσόντος τοῦ υ δι’ εὐφωνίαν· πολύφωνος γὰρ ὁ λαὸς καὶ ἀλαλητοῦ, ὅ ἐστι θορύβου, αἴτιος. καὶ οὕτω μὲν ἡ κοινὴ ἐτυμολογία. ἡ δὲ ἱστορία ἐκ τῶν λάων, ὅ ἐστι λίθων, παράγει τοὺς λαοὺς λέγουσα, ὅτι Κέκροψ πολυανθρωποῦσαν ἰδὼν τὴν Ἀττικὴν συγκαλεῖται τὸν ὄχλον καὶ παρασημαίνεται τὸν ἀριθμὸν λάεσσιν ἤτοι λίθοις ἑκάστου ἕνα ῥίψαντος κἀντεῦθεν ἐκεῖνοι λαοὶ ἐκλήθησαν καὶ ἀπ’ ἐκείνων μένει τὸ ὄνομα
Comm. Il. 2, 466: Ἐν δὲ τοῖς ῥηθεῖσι κεῖται καί τι καινότροπον σχῆμα σύνηθες Ὁμήρῳ τὸ «οἳ δὲ διακριθέντες, ὃ μὲν μετὰ λαὸν Ἀχαιῶν ἤϊεν, ὃ δ’ ἐς Τρώων ὅμαδον κίεν». Ἔνθα ταὐτὸν λαὸς παρὰ τὸ λίαν αὔειν καὶ ὅμαδος παρὰ τὴν ὁμοῦ αὐδήν. Σεμνοτέρα δὲ λέξις ὁ λαός ἤπερ ὁ ὅμαδος, διὸ λαὸν μὲν ἔφη ἐπὶ Ἀχαιῶν, ὅμαδον δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν βαρβάρων Τρώων.
Translation (En)
Comm. Il. 1, 38: Because laos "men" comes from the intensive prefix la- "very" and auō "to shout". From there *lauuos, and by contraction laos, with the fall o the [u] for euphonic reasons. Because the people have many voices and is the cause of shouting, that is, tumult. And this is the common etymology. But the legend derives laos "people" from laas "stone", saying that Cecrops, seeing the large number of men in Attica, summons the multitude and deduces their numbers thanks to stones, that is, each one throwing a stone, from there they were called laoi, and the name remains up to now.
Comm. Il. 2, 466: In these words lies a "schema”, usual in Homer, "So separating, Aias went among the Achaian people, and Hektor went back to the thronging Trojans” (Il. 7.307-308, transl. Lattimore). There, in the same way laos "men" is from lian auein "to cry a lot" and homados "multitude" from homou audē "(having) a voice together". But the word laos is nobler than homados, and this is why he says laos for the Achaeans and homados for the barbarian Trojans
Parallels
Tzetzes, Exegesis in Homeri Iliadem 1.10 (Ἐμοὶ δὲ οὕτως ἔπεισιν ἐτυμολογεῖν· λαός ἐστιν πλῆθος συνεστηκὸς ἐξ ἀνθρώπων· λέγεται δὲ παρὰ τὸ λίαν αὔειν, ὅ ἐστιν φωνεῖν, λιαυός, λαυὸς καὶ λαός· ἐκ γὰρ πληθύος λαοῦ μεγάλη εἴωθε γίνεσθαι καὶ φωνή); ibid., 1.126 (λαούς· τοὺς ὄχλους, ἐρρέθη δέ· εἶπον γὰρ ὅτι ἀπὸ τοῦ λᾶς ὁ λίθος ἠτυμολόγηται κατὰ μυθικὴν ἱστορίαν, ἥν φασι περὶ Δευκαλίωνος, ἢ καθὼς ἐγὼ ἠτυμολόγησα, ἀπὸ τοῦ λίαν αὔειν, ἤγουν φωνεῖν, λιανός, λανὸς καὶ λαός· ἐκ γὰρ πληθύος λαοῦ μεγάλη φωνὴ γίνεται); ibid., 1.226, sch. 42 (λαῷ· τῷ ὄχλῳ· πάντες ἀπὸ τῶν ῥιφέντων ὑπὸ Δευκαλίωνος καὶ Πύρρας λίθων φασὶ κληθῆναι λαούς, ὥσπερ καὶ Πίνδαρος λέγων οὑτωσί πως· Πύρρα Δευκαλίων τε Παρνασσοῦ καταβάντε· λίθινον γόνον κτισάσθην· |λαοὶ δ’ ὀνόμασθεν· ἕτεροι δὲ πάλιν φασί· λαοὶ Δευκαλίωνος ὅσσοι γενόμεθα γενέθλης πολλοὶ θαλασσίων μενδότεροι νεπόδων. Φιλόχορος δὲ ἱστορεῖ ὅτι· Κέκροψ ᾤκισε τὰς Ἀθήνας· βουλόμενος δὲ μαθεῖν τὸ πλῆθος τῆς πόλεως ἐκέλευσε τὸν καθένα λίθον ἐπιφέροντα τιθέναι περὶ τὸ μέσον· τούτου γοῦν γενομένου, ἀριθμήσας τοὺς λίθους εὕρηκεν ὄντας εἴκοσι μυριάδας· οὕτω γοῦν ἐκλήθησαν λαοί. κατ’ ἐμὲ δὲ προεῖπον, ἀπὸ τοῦ λίαν αὔειν καὶ φωνεῖν· ἐκ γὰρ πλήθους λαοῦ μεγάλη φωνὴ ἀποτελεῖται)
Comment
Compositional etymology parsing λαός as a compound of the intensive prefix λα- (glossed by λίαν "very" in Comm. Il. 2, 466) and αὔω, and implying a syncope for "euphonic" reasons. In Comm. Il. 2, 466 Eustathius shows that the aim is to provide a similar etymology for the two names of the troops, λαός and ὅμαδος. Since ὅμαδος could be related to ὁμοῦ "together" in synchrony, with -αδος then understood as a form of αὐδή "voice" that underwent a pathos (loss of [u]), a parallel etymology had to be designed for λαός, hence the idea of the intensive prefix and a verb related to αὐδή. The etymology of λαός is designed after the etymology of ὅμαδος, on which it depends. Eustathius adds that this is the "common" etymology. He provides the etymology by the name of the stone as an alternative, in the rationalized version of Philochorus (see λαός / λᾶας)