Compositional etymology. The first syllable /lei/ is derived from λήΐα and its Attic outcome λεῖα "booty", mostly used with the meaning "cattle". The second syllable is derived from βόσκω, hence *βων "feeding". This yields a *λειβών, which afterwards is assumed to have undergone a formal change, that of /b/ into /m/. The latter change was already assumed by those who etymologize λειμών by λείβω "to drip, to pour" (see λειμών / λείβω). Therefore, both etymologies start from the same form λείβων, with most grammarians favoring as usual a derivational etymology, while some provided a compositional etymology. Byzantine scholars did not always see clearly the difference between the two etymologies and ended up mixing them, as is clear from Choeroboscus. The compositional etymology may have been suggested by the Homeric compound ληϊβοτείρης "feeding on fields (λήΐον)", epithet of a boar, with λήϊον "field", which may have been mistaken for ληΐη "booty, cattle"