The word is parsed as a compound, which it is. The morphological boundary is correctly identified (δεσ-πότης), but the two elements are erroneous to a modern's eye. The second element is analyzed as an agent noun in -της, from ποιέω, which implies dropping of the medial syllable (-ποιητης > ποτης) as is explicitly said in Orion (see Parallels). The first element was identified either as δέος "fear" or as δεσμός "bond", both alluding to the power the master has over the slave, and Philo's explanation brings both etymologies together as he takes δέος to be from δεσμός. This relies on what Greek grammarians described as the polysemy of a verb δέω meaning both "to bind" (from which is derived δεσμός) and "to fear" (from which is derived δέος) : see Choeroboscus, Epimerismi in Psalmos p. 75, δεσμός· παρὰ τὸ δέω, τὸ δεσμεύω. Τὸ δέω πόσα σημαίνει; Διὰ τοῦ Ε ψιλοῦ σημαίνει τέσσαρα· δέω τὸ δεσμεύω, ἐξ οὗ καὶ δεσμός· δέω τὸ φοβοῦμαι, ἐξ οὗ καὶ δέος ὁ φόβος· δέω τὸ ἱκετεύω, ἐξ οὗ καὶ τὸ δέομαί σου· δέον δέω (sic), ἐξ οὗ καὶ τὸ ἔδεον, ἔδεες, ἔδεε, καὶ ἔδει γενέσθαι "δεσμός is from δέω "to bind". How many different meanings does δέω have? Four, when written with an ‹E› : δέω "to bind", from which δεσμός "bond", δέω "to fear", from which δέος "fear", δέω "to be a suppliant", from which δέομαί σου "I beg you", and "to be necessary", from which are derived ἔδεον, ἔδεες, ἔδεε, and ἔδει." Modern linguistics has shown that "to fear" and "to bind" are different verbs with different roots (δείδω "to fear", from *dwei-, δέω "to bind", from *deh1-, and a third one, δέω / δέομαι "to need", hence "to beg", from *dew-), but for Greek scholars it was one and the same verb, which enabled them to derive many words from it, notwithstanding the semantic difficulties