15
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Name of Homeric (?) figure of speech: semantic transposition
At least one term for this is 'transferred epithet.' It's one species of a more general figure of speech called hypallage, an interchange in the relation of words.
It isn't confined to Homer. For ...
- 20.5k
14
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Pronouncing Homer as in modern Greek
The differences aren't really too intense, fortunately. Here are the big ones:
β, δ, γ, φ, θ, χ are fricatives in Modern Greek but plosives in Ancient Greek. If you substitute one for the other, ...
- 69k
12
votes
How to read αἱμύλιος or when to aspirate
If a word begins with a diphthong, the breathing sign is written over the second vowel letter. "Haimylioi" is correct.
- 18k
10
votes
How should Odyssey A 56 be scanned?: αἰεὶ δὲ μαλακοῖσι καὶ αἱμυλίοισι λόγοισιν
There is a little-known rule of epic scansion in which, optionally, a word-initial sonorant (the nasals μ ν and the liquids ρ λ) may cause a preceding short vowel to scan long. Here's another example, ...
- 31.5k
9
votes
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Is ἐν changing to ἐμ or ἐγ only a thing in Attic?
It does not actually state that. It says that when they're used as prefixes:
When the prepositions ἐν and σύν are used as prefixes, they retain these forms when the verb begins with a vowel. When the ...
cmw♦
- 57.5k
9
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In what way is Odysseus διογενής?
Well, γένος and γόνος can mean much more than "child of." They can also mean "descent," "stock," and "tribe." The "golden race" = χρύσεον γένος is not ...
cmw♦
- 57.5k
8
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Scansion of lines in Homer involving εἰνὶ θρόνῳ
This is known as correption, and in particular Attic correption, which displays this more frequently than Homeric verse.
From Halporn, Ostwald, and Rosenmeyer (a great little student reference guide) ...
cmw♦
- 57.5k
7
votes
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Why is ἀτρύγετος = ἀ + τρυγάω + τος "formally not easy?"
If from τρυγάω, the expected form would be ἀτρύγητος, since in such formations the stem vowel is lengthened (and long α becomes η in Ionic). Chantraine tentatively mentions the possibility that ...
- 31.5k
6
votes
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How to render a translation similar to this phrase in the Odyssey
The line being translated here is actually the preceding line, Odyssey 6.159:
οὐ γάρ πω τοιοῦτον ἴδον βροτὸν ὀφθαλμοῖσιν
Literally, this means "for not yet have I seen such a mortal with (my) ...
- 31.5k
6
votes
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Omicron sometimes becoming omega in conjugation of ἀπόλλυμι
You have answered your own question very well. It is the augmented form of the aorist indicative, and the un-augmented form (also called injunctive).
- 18k
6
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How to read αἱμύλιος or when to aspirate
fdb is absolutely correct (+1), but to address this part of your question:
does ἱ after α affect the pronunciation?
The answer is, yes, it absolutely does!
In (most dialects of) Ancient Greek, ...
- 69k
5
votes
Iliad 1.6 "when they first stood apart in strife" -- can this be read as when the muse should start singing?
There seem to be three possible options for syntactically connecting the ἐξ οὗ δή clause to what precedes:
connecting to ἄειδε (Hartsock): "Sing the wrath ... [long relative clause, and ...
- 31.5k
5
votes
Initial digamma / long diphthong in plupf. ᾔδη?
I've found a plausible answer in Chantraine, Grammaire homérique pp. 31-2. He says:
La forme ᾔδη peut partout être lue (ϝ)είδη sans augment.
That is, the suggestion is that the Homeric form was ...
- 31.5k
5
votes
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Subjunctive αἰδέσεται rather than αἰδέσηται?
This is a relic of an older set of rules for forming the subjunctive.
In Proto-Indo-European, the subjunctive was formed by adding *-e/o- to the verb stem. In thematic forms, which already end in *-e/...
- 31.5k
5
votes
Pronouncing Homer as in modern Greek
Homer does have meter. Whether or not it's worth it to learn how to read Homer's poetry aloud with meter is a matter of opinion; you'll have to decide for yourself. I think that native Greek speakers ...
- 29.8k
5
votes
Where did the name Ulixes come from?
The most likely answer is that 'Ulixes' arrived in Rome (so to speak) before the Odyssey did. In Franz Altheim's A History of Roman Religion, he writes:
Older still [than the fifth-century BC ...
- 156
5
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Where did the name Ulixes come from?
According to Karl Otfried Müller, Odysseus and Ulysses are versions of the same name being passed down by two different races. On the one hand, Ulysses or Ulixes (also written Οὐλίξου) was the name ...
- 10.8k
5
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Homeric expression for "easy?"
Yep, it's a spelling thing. From LSJ:
ῥᾴδιος (ῥαιδ- correctly in early texts, PCair.Zen.367.20 (iii B.C.), etc., later ῥαδ-, Diog.Oen.10, etc.), α, ον: Ep. and Ion. ῥηΐδιος [ι^δ], η, ον, as always in ...
cmw♦
- 57.5k
5
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Why does οἱ make position?
The dative οἱ, like the other singular inflected forms of this pronoun (acc. ἑ, gen. οὑ), is thought to come not from the PIE demonstrative *so-
but from the reflexive *swe, a PIE accusative form ...
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5
votes
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How is the name "Penthesilea" formed?
Πενθεσίλεια, unlike Ναυσικάα but like most other compounds where the elements are joined by -σι- (or sometimes -τι-), appears to be a so-called terpsimbrotos compound, which is an inherited IE ...
- 31.5k
4
votes
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Counting to ten in Homeric Greek
Admittedly this isn't Homer, but it might still be useful. A TLG search (surprisingly) comes up with only two relevant sentences, both from Plato:
Theaetetus 204b-c has the numbers up to six in the ...
- 1,332
4
votes
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Why τράφεν rather than ἐτράφησαν?
Pharr isn't the most intuitive, but he does include this form under § 916 (where is lists aorist indicative passive forms). Next to the expected form ἐλύθησαν he has (ἔλυθεν).
It's better to check ...
cmw♦
- 57.5k
4
votes
Is Ἀχιλλεύς actually from ἄχος and λαός?
Nagy 1994 argues that, whether or not the name goes back to ἄχος and λαός in Proto-Indo-European, it was certainly understood that way in Homeric times. He claims that, whether this is a derivation or ...
- 69k
4
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Is Ἀχιλλεύς actually from ἄχος and λαός?
Not an answer, but Beekes discusses it, as excerpted without comment. He considers it pre-Greek:
᾿Αχιλλεύς [m.] the son of Peleus and Thetis (Il.). <PG>
VAR Also ᾿Αχιλεύς (Il.).
DIAL Myc. a-ki-...
- 1,217
4
votes
Odyssey A.65: how is περὶ used in περὶ νόον ἐστὶ βροτῶν, περὶ δ᾿ ἱρὰ θεοῖσιν // ἀθανάτοισιν ἔδωκε?
You're right to think of this not as a preposition, but I think the error is in translating as "more" instead of with a supreme sense. I would translate it thus:
ὃς περὶ μὲν νόον ἐστὶ ...
cmw♦
- 57.5k
3
votes
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Why κιχείη rather than κιχάνοι?
The dictionary entry for κιχάνω is enormous, so check it out for all its various forms. Simply put, the verb has athematic forms.
The relevant part is in Smyth §688:
The following ω-verbs have in ...
cmw♦
- 57.5k
3
votes
Saying whose body part it is in Greek
Your first three examples illustrate what is commonly called the dativus ethicus, here specifically in its use to indicate that a noun or pronoun in the dative case identifies the owner of a body part....
- 18k
3
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Are these reasonable guesses for unattested verb forms? ἤρισσαν, θεωπρόπεεν
Given the amount of irregularity and variation in Homeric verb forms, I actually think you'd be better off using the Attic forms for drills. But:
For ἐρίζω, Cunliffe's Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect ...
- 31.5k
3
votes
nu + apostrophe at the beginning of Homeric verses?
According to Hagen 1994, the etymologically expected form of the accusative was Ζῆν (compare Latin diem), but this became Ζῆνα by analogy with regular third-declension nouns. It's unclear if the ...
- 69k
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