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The Homeric imperfect ὀρέχθεον (Ψ 30) is also transmitted as ἐρέχθεον, which was preferred by Aristarchus. This varia lectio was already known in the 5th c. and is found in an Æschylean fragment (ἐρεχθεῖ fr. 158 TrGF), parallel to a fragment by Aristias (ὠρέχθει fr. 6 TrGF), each poet retaining a different reading for the Homeric line. This eliminates the only occurrence of the verb ἐρέχθω in Æschylus. We should analyze the Homeric ὀρέχθεον as a secondary form derived from the aorist ὠρέχθην belonging to ὀρέγω, used in Attic as a middle corresponding to ὀρέγοµαι “to desire”: this aorist must have had originally a passive meaning “was stretched out”, and the neutralization of the opposition between middle and passive in Attic is secondary. A present ὀρεχθέω can originate in the aorist ὠρέχθην via the participle, in a formula *κεῖται ὀρεχθείς # (Lesb. ὀρέχθεις), vocalic variant of κεῖτο τανυσθείς #: in Aeolic, this participle is a passive aorist participle, as in Ionic, but can also be analyzed as a present active participle corresponding to the Ionic contract type in -έων. The wrong identification would be a consequence of the transposition from Æolic to Ionic, because contemporary Ionic had lost the passive value of ὠρέχθην and knew only the middle value which is that of classic Ionic-Attic, so that an Æol. passive ὀρέχθεις was reassigned not to ὠρέχθην, but to a different verb ὀρεχθέω. One should therefore understand in Ψ 30 “oxen were laid down, slaughtered”, interpretation which is already found in some scholia. This ὀρέχθεον has nothing to do with either ἐρέχθω or ῥοχθέω. These two verbs, however, are likely to belong with each other, as a pair consisting of a radical present and a derived iterative present (as φέρω / φορέω), the primary meaning of which is “to beat, to hammer”. Thus ῥοχθέω is not an onomatopeic verb, but a regular derivative. The meaning “to roar” which is attributed to this verb, both in Homeric and post-Homeric occurrences, results from a reinterpretation of the Homeric context in which “the waves beat against the shore” was understood as “the waves roar against the shore”, probably in ε 402-403. The etymological connection of ἐρέχθω with Sanscrite rákṣas- “damage”, Avestan rāšaiia- “to cause damage” can be strengthened by this analysis of ἐρέχθω / ῥοχθέω, but remains uncertain.