>>> Ed Cryer wrote:
>>>> Johannes Patruus wrote:

>>>>> http://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry:showfullentry/true?t:ac=Entry/...

>>>>> Patruus

>>>> "1597   G. Markham tr. G. Pétau de Maulette Deuoreux xci. 15   That
>>>> Prince, mee thought, was finely shapt, vpright, Such as was Marops at
>>>> th'Olympick games."

>>>> I can't find this "Marops" anywhere with Google; apart from in this
>>>> citation from 1597.

>>>> Ed

>>> Even with "Merops" (an actual ancient Greek name that appears several
>>> times in mythology) no mention in connection with the Olympics. In fact
>>> no "Merops" since the first recorded Olympics in 776BC.

>>> Ed

>> Maybe Rhadamanthus' trinepos or Aida's bistritavus. The L & S says he or
>> an earlier one was from Aethiopia. Maybe the Jesse Owens of the Boeotian
>> decathelon.
>> Anyway, with an English A Marops is pronounced the same as Merops.

> Hiya man. It's good to see you back here again.
> This is a tangled web of etymology. You seem to know more than me when
> you bring in Aethiopian. It led me to two words in L&S;
> μέροψ, οπος, ὁ
> αἰθοψ, οπος, (αἰθός, ὄψ)

> Beyond that lies conjecture, attempting to second-guess the goodly man's
> sources, and (uno verbo) chaos.

> Ed