>Liddell and Scott : "Iris , idos, (Perh. fr. *Wiris, cf. ôkea Iris Il.2.786
, al., Hes. l.c.; ôka de Iris Il.23.198 (Pap.); ...
> I don't what L&S had in mind with *Wiris
The suggestion is probably made to explain the hiatus in the examples
quoted.
o:kea Iris is a set phrase, occuring all through the Iliad. Other examples
of hiatus also occur, eg Il 8:399, 409; 23:201; 24:77, 117, 159
There is perhaps an elision before Iris in Iliad 5:353, which (if true)
would count against the presence of an initial w-.
More significantly, Il 5:365 has par de hoi Iris, with the hoi scanned
short - which is only possible before a vowel. But this is the only
example, and is far outweighed by the frequent examples with apparent
hiatus.
Hence (perhaps) the logic behind a reconstructed initial w-.
Peter