The Pseudo-Hesiodic fragment is: ἤτοι γὰρ Λοκρὸς Λελέγων ἡγήσατο λαῶν,  / τοὺς ῥά ποτε Κρονίδης Ζεὺς ἄφθιτα μήδεα εἰδὼς  / λεκτοὺς ἐκ γαίης ΛΑΟΥΣ πόρε Δευκαλίωνι· "And Locros was the head of the troops (laôn) of the Lelegi, whom once the son of Cronus, Zeus of the immortal thoughts, gave to Deucalion as stones (laous) taken from the earth." This is taken by most as hinting at the etymology of λαός by λᾶας "stone" (see λαός / λᾶας). However, the source of the Epimerisms here etymologizes it, not from λᾶας, but apparently from λεκτούς "gathered", synonymous with ἁλής "thronged". And this ἁλής is assumed to be the etymon of λαός, at the cost of only one formal manipulation, the loss of the initial [a], for which a parallel is provided with Aristophanes' σφοδελός instead of ἀσφοδελός. Formally, to use the etymon ἁλής whereas the text only has λεκτούς follows the principle of elliptic etymologies (the real lemma is not provided but replaced by a synonym)