According to the Hellenistic grammarian Hellanicus, Homeric θήλϵας was accented θηλέας, a proposal rejected by Aristarchus, who considered it to be Doric, taking it to be the masculine/common form of the third declension. Hellanicus’ reading might have been considered Doric by Aristarchus because of its curious paroxytone accentuation, since a main feature of Doric is the placement of the accent a mora closer to word-end. The notion that Hellanicus’ θηλέας was Doric may however be only an interpretation by Aristarchus, as per van Thiel’s framework for interpreting the readings of grammarians active before Aristarchus. If so, we would be dealing with a commentary reading: Hellanicus was remarking on how the adjective ought to be accented, but was not. This way, he shows he knew the vulgate reading with retracted accentuation as later grammarians did.
