This etymology is presented as an alternative to the preceding one (see δεῖπνον / διαναπαύω). Plutarch keeps the relation with πόνος "labour" and tries another way to account for the initial δεῖ-. As in the preceding etymology, the solution is a form with the preverb δια-. The connection with "labour" is different: in that etymology δεῖπνον is the meal which has been prepared carefully (διαπεπονημένον). It is a descriptive etymology, which may have its source in Il. 24.444 οἳ δὲ νέον περὶ δόρπα φυλακτῆρεϲ πονέοντο "and the guards were preparing the dinner", with πονέομαι having as its object the name of the evening meal (δόρπον in Homer, replaced by δεῖπνον in Attic). This etymology gives rise to an etymology ex antonymo for ἄριστον "breakfast": if δεῖπνον "dinner" is from διαπεπονημένον “carefully prepared”, its "antonym" ἄριστον must be from ῥᾷστος "easiest"