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In their discussions of the formation of the infinitive, both Pharr and White remark on the contraction of -εεν to -ειν, but I don't understand why this would apply to most of the examples that come out to be -ειν. White offers the specific example of λύω, showing the formation of its infinitive as λυε+εν -> λύειν. But I don't understand where the extra ε even comes from. The stem is λυ, not λυε.
I spun this question off, as suggested by cmw, from a longer question that was unwieldy.
λύω is a thematic verb—its root is λυ-, but its present stem includes the thematic vowel: λυ-ε/ο-. This vowel merged into the -ω of the first-person ending before the development of the later contraction rules as far as the accent goes, but the fact that -ω is a thematic ending is enough to tell us it's there without even looking at the rest of the paradigm.
For the infinitive, this vowel takes the e-grade (ε-grade, if you prefer) and contracts with the active infinitive ending -εν.
