Orion's text is corrupt: Sturtz has for the last part ὅθεν ὁ λαὸς ὁ τυφλός, instead of ἀλαός, and the [μή] in λάειν γὰρ τὸ [μὴ] βλέπειν is superfluous, may be introduced from an explanation of ἀλαός. The explanation parses the word as a compound with the negation μή, although the latter is never used in compounds, but Greek etymologists nevertheless explained thus several words on the model of μηδείς (see μήνη / μή + μένω, μῖσος / μή + ἴσος). This requires a shortening of η into ε, explicit in the Epimerismi homerici (see Parallels). A similar case with shortening of μή is found in μέλεος / μή + λῶ. The second member is identified as a neuter participle of λάω, which provides the [n] of the neuter adjective μέλαν, implying subsequent dropping of the [o]. The ambiguity about diathesis is explicit here, whereas most of the time it is not in Greek etymological explanations: "to see" can be taken either as active (βλέπον), hence ἀλαός "blind" (see ἀλαός / ἀ- + λάω) or passive (βλεπόμενον). Here the passive meaning "unseen" is not appropriate for "black", but the μὴ βλεπόμενον must be understood as "in which things are not seen", that is, night or darkness, and it refers to the traditional epithet of "night" in Homer (διὰ νύκτα μέλαιναν). This is explained in the Etym. Gudianum (see Parallels) as τὸ γὰρ μέλαν συνάγει τὴν ὅρασιν "black restrains sight". This allowed Greek scholars to derive two privative compounds from the same verb, one with the regular privative prefix ἀ-, the other one with the negation μή, with two very different meanings. This etymology of μέλας is designed in parallel with that of the antonymic adjective λευκός "white", as an etymology ex antonymo (see Parallels)