Compositional etymology. The text as printed by Sturz is probably corrupt: the word λεῖον "smooth" can hardly account for λα-, and on the other hand the compound provided as a gloss, μεγαλόκητος, a reformulation of the Homeric μεγακητής, epithet of ships meaning "with a large hollow", shows that the first member was originally identified as the intensive prefix λα-. A possible explanation would be that the iotacized pronunciation /likiθos/ (the spelling of the lemma in the manuscript is λήκιθος)) resulted in the fact that the copyist thought that the first member λα-, implied by the gloss μεγαλόκητος, was not correct, and he thought up a new etymology with a first member phonetically closer to /li/: λεῖος "smooth" fits this requirement and is semantically compatible with the notion of vase since the interior surface is indeed smooth. But he did not erase the gloss μεγαλόκητος, apparently because he did not see that it was not compatible with his own etymology. This implies that the etymology is not by Orion but by a later copyist who modified Orion's text. As a matter of fact, this etymology is not found in the Byzantine Etymologic depending on Orion, whereas they have the etymology λα- + κύτος.