"speaking name" (nomen loquens)

The expression erizemenai basileusin ‘engage in strife against kings’ is a programmatic way of referring to the language of blame as a challenge to royalty. In the Iliad, Thersites ... Continue reading

Here again, the expression erizemenai basileusin ‘engage in strife against kings’ is a programmatic way of referring to the language of blame as a challenge to royalty. Here again, ... Continue reading

analysis of Hektor’s name as derived from ekheinThe “speaking name” (nomen loquens) of Hector, Hék-tōr, is morphologically an agent noun derived from the verb ekhein ‘hold’, which ... Continue reading

comment on the meaning of pateres as “ancestors,” in the context of analyzing the semantics of PatroklosThe singular noun patēr ‘father’ has an elliptic meaning in the plural: pate ... Continue reading

contrasting of the narrative in the Iliad with Aeolian, Ionian and Dorian versions, here regarding the death/survival of Astyanax/ScamandriusThe first name for the son of Hector, A ... Continue reading

comment on the name Phrixos as illuminated by phrix in these versesThe noun phríx ‘shuddering’, which conveys the subjectivized feeling of an observer who shudders when he looks at ... Continue reading

The penthos ‘grief’ felt by the losing Achaeans is now compared, by way of a simile, to a seastorm brought by the North Wind and the West Wind personified respectively as Boreas an ... Continue reading

As the three ambassadors and the two heralds enter the shelter of Achilles, they find the hero singing klea andrōn ‘the glories [klea] of men’ while his companion Patroklos is list ... Continue reading

The story told by Phoenix about Meleagros and Kleopatra is introduced at the very beginning, I.09.524, by the expression houtō ‘this is how’, which conventionally introduces a disc ... Continue reading

Here at I.09.561–564, it is revealed that Kleopatra had a second name, and that this name had to do with the singing of laments. Her second name was Alkuónē, I.09.562, which was gi ... Continue reading

analysis of the etymology of Iris, proposing that it derives from the root *uī- as in is ‘force, might,’ and her associations with windspeed, which in turn is association with is/b ... Continue reading

Here at I.22.506–507, the meaning of the name of Hector is made explicit. As noted in the comment on I.06.402–403, the first of two names given to the son of Hector, Astyanax [Astu ... Continue reading

While Priam mourns for his own son Hector, Achilles alternates in mourning for his own father Priam and for Patroklos as his own other self. By mourning for both his father and for ... Continue reading

For Penelope, the song that is sung by the singer Phemios, which is supposed to turn the deeds of men and gods into the kleos ‘glory’ of poetry, as we saw at O.01.338, produces the ... Continue reading

The speech of the old man Aiguptios, O.02.025–034, is described by the Master Narrator as phēmē ‘something said’, O.02.035. This translation ‘something said’ does not fully capture ... Continue reading

We see at work here the mythological convention of naming a son after a primary heroic trait of the father, as in the case of the son of Ajax, whose name Eurusakēs means ‘the one w ... Continue reading

The name of the singer, Dēmódokos, can be interpreted as meaning ‘one who is received [verb dek(h)esthai] by the community [dēmos]’, and, in the present context, the dēmos ‘communi ... Continue reading

Alkinoos notices the weeping of Odysseus, and this act of noticing will lead to recognition. See the anchor comment at I.05.669 on noeîn ‘have in mind, take note (of)’. Alkinoos no ... Continue reading

Once again, Alkinoos notices that Odysseus is weeping, and this act of noticing will lead to recognition. But the tears of Odysseus will conjure not only his own past sorrows: as A ... Continue reading

analysis of the coincidentia oppositorum in the location of Aiaia (in both the extreme east and west), and Okeanos as a key to the emergence of Odysseus from his journey to the und ... Continue reading

The description here of Demodokos as ‘honored by the people [lāoi]’ reinforces the etymology of his name: ‘one who is received [verb dek(h)esthai] by the community [dēmos]’. See th ... Continue reading

The form Árgos, as used here at O.17.292 and also at O.17.300, derives from the adjective argós ‘swift, alert; bright’. For example, hunting dogs or kúnes are conventionally descri ... Continue reading

The parallelism of the tektōn ‘carpenter’ with the aoidos ‘singer’ is particularly noteworthy, since the craft of the singer is conventionally compared to the craft of the carpente ... Continue reading

|1 ἦλθε δ᾽ ἐπὶ πτωχὸς πανδήμιος, ὃς κατὰ ἄστυ |2 πτωχεύεσκ᾽ Ἰθάκης, μετὰ δ᾽ ἔπρεπε γαστέρι μάργῃ |3 ἀζηχὲς φαγέμεν καὶ πιέμεν· οὐδέ οἱ ἦν ἲς |4 οὐδὲ βίη, εἶδος δὲ μάλα μέγας ἦν ὁρά ... Continue reading

The name of Îros (῏Ιρος), Ο.18.006, is linked here with the name of Îris (῏Ιρις), the goddess who functions as divine messenger. On the name of Iris, see the comment on I.17.547–54 ... Continue reading

Even before the physical combat between the disguised Odysseus and Iros takes place, Iros is already losing his nerve as he sees Odysseus half-revealed in the hero’s true form thro ... Continue reading

Reacting to the death of Antinoos, the remaining suitors were now ‘making likenesses’, as expressed by the verb eïskein ‘make likenesses, liken’, O.22.031. That is, each one of the ... Continue reading

At O.22.285–286, the cowherd Philoitios kills the suitor Ktesippos, who had thrown at the disguised Odysseus a most lowly portion of beef as a physical insult that augmented his ve ... Continue reading

The name of this aoidos ‘singer’ Phemios is a “speaking name” (nomen loquens): the adjectival Phēmios is derived from the noun phēmē, defined in the comment at O.02.035 as ‘somethi ... Continue reading