Homer’s Winged Words Mnemosyne Supplements Monographs on Greek and Roman Language and Literature Editorial Board G.J. Boter A. Chaniotis K.M. Coleman I.J.F. de Jong P.H. Schrijvers VOLUME 313 Homer’s Winged Words Th e Evolution of Early Greek Epic Diction in the Light of Oral Th eory by Steve Reece LEIDEN • BOSTON 2009 Th is book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Reece, Steve, 1959– Homer’s winged words : the evolution of early Greek epic diction in the light of oral theory / by Steve Reece. p. cm. — (Mnemosyne supplements : monographs on Greek and Roman language and literature ; v. 313) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-17441-2 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Homer—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Epic poetry, Greek—History and criticism. 3. Oral tradition— Greece. I. Title. II. Series. PA4037.R374 2009 883’.01—dc22 2009010950 ISSN 0169-8958 ISBN 978 90 04 17441 2 Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, Th e Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Brill has made all reasonable eff orts to trace all right holders to any copyrighted material used in this work. In cases where these eff orts have not been successful the publisher welcomes communications from copyright holders, so that the appropriate acknowledgements can be made in future editions, and to settle other permission matters. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to Th e Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands I dedicate this work to my son Taylor Martin Reece and to my daughter Hannah Christine Reece, who have demonstrated for me in the laboratory of life many curious permutations of the English language. Some have involved the shift ing of ambiguous word bound- aries, resulting in curious English phrases not unlike the Homeric phrases that are the subject of this work. I hope that the reader will fi nd the following Homeric permutations both as entertaining and thought-provoking as I found those of my children. CONTENTS Acknowledgments .............................................................................. ix PART ONE CATEGORIES OF JUNCTURAL METANALYSIS Chapter One Introduction ............................................................ 3 Chapter Two Junctural Metanalysis in Middle English ........... 15 Chapter Th ree Junctural Metanalysis in Homeric Greek ........ 27 Chapter Four Junctural Metanalysis in Homer Owing to Nu-Ephelkystikon and Final Nu ................................................. 39 Chapter Five Junctural Metanalysis in Homer Owing to Movable and Final Sigma ............................................................ 57 Chapter Six Junctural Metanalysis in Homer Owing to Movable and Final Kappa ............................................................ 71 Chapter Seven Junctural Metanalysis in Homer Owing to Vocal Elision .................................................................................. 79 Chapter Eight Junctural Metanalysis of Homeric Toponyms 163 PART TWO INDIVIDUAL CASES OF JUNCTURAL METANALYSIS Chapter Nine An Homeric Problem / An Aeschylean Solution Ἄβιοι / Γάβιοι ............................................................... 195 Chapter Ten Whence the Selloi of Dodona? Σελλοί / Ἑλλοί ... 201 viii contents Chapter Eleven A Peculiar Particle ταρ / ἄρ(᾿) ......................... 217 Chapter Twelve Folksy Th ersites φολκός / (ἐφ)ὁλκός .............. 231 Chapter Th irteen Epic Knees / Ep’ Icknees γνυ- / ἰγνυ- ......... 237 Chapter Fourteen Homeric Headdresses and Citadels κατὰ κρῆθεν / κατ᾿ ἄκρης ............................................................ 249 Chapter Fift een Homer’s Asphodel Meadow ἀσφοδελός / σφοδελός ......................................................................................... 261 Chapter Sixteen Th e Homeric and Mycenaean Bath ἀσάμινθος / νασάμινθος .............................................................. 273 Chapter Seventeen Swift -Running Hermes σῶκος / ὠκύς ...... 281 Chapter Eighteen Homer’s Bridges of War πτολέμοιο γέφυραι / πτολέμοιό γ᾿ ἔφυραι .................................................... 301 Chapter Nineteen Homer’s Winged and Wingless Words πτερόεις / ἄπτερος ......................................................................... 315 Illustrations and Maps ...................................................................... 335 Appendices .......................................................................................... 345 Bibliography ........................................................................................ 361 Index Locorum ................................................................................... 383 Index Nominum ................................................................................ 401 Index Verborum ................................................................................ 407 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It took the Achaeans ten long years to conquer Troy, and it took Odysseus another ten to make his way back home again. It has taken me even longer to accomplish the much less heroic task of writing this book. I recall vividly when and where the project began: during a casual conversation one late aft ernoon with a fellow graduate student in the reading room of the UCLA Classics Department. We were puz- zling over the word νήδυμος (nedumos), a common epithet for sleep in Greek epic verse: did it mean ‘painless,’ as some of the lexica we examined suggested, or ‘encompassing,’ or ‘inescapable,’ or ‘womb- like,’ as others proposed? Or, as one lexicon hesitantly off ered, was the adjective simply an odd form of the common adjective ἥδυμος (hedumos), meaning ‘sweet,’ the initial ν- (n-) having been transferred from a preceding word that ended in -ν (-n)? Th is made excellent sense semantically, and a quick look at the phrases in which the epithet is commonly found embedded in epic verse provided confi rmation: the preceding word oft en ended with a dispensable -ν (-n). Th e formula ἔχε νήδυμος ὕπνος (eche nedumos hupnos), for example, could easily have resulted from a resegmentation of an earlier ἔχεν ἥδυμος ὕπνος (echen hedumos hupnos) ‘sweet sleep took hold of so-and-so,’ with the verb ending in a so-called ‘nu-ephelkystikon’ (movable nu). Our delib- erations on the Homeric formula brought to my mind a query that a youngster had once made aft er hearing a recitation of Psalm 23: “What are nenemies, and why do they give us presents?” He had, of course, misunderstood and resegmented the archaic phrase ‘the presence of mine enemies.’ Th is comparison was illuminating, for it off ered us a rare glimpse of the living, changing, and very human process that was also responsible for the language of the Homeric epics, even though we know them today largely as fi xed, canonical, and impersonal texts. It was a memorable discovery, and I resolved to explore this process further when I had time. This project has followed me around ever since, like an always steadfast and usually welcome companion, on my peregrinations from California to Texas to Tennessee to Minnesota, with several detours x acknowledgments through Italy and Greece. Many whom I met along the way have good- naturedly tolerated conversations about the project and thereby contrib- uted to it in ways large and small. In particular, I wish to acknowledge my debt to those teachers and colleagues who introduced me to at least some of the facets of the multifaceted discipline that we call Homeric Studies: Alfred Burns, Dennis Ellsworth, Paul Roth, Ann Bergren, Richard Janko, Michael Haslam, Steven Lattimore, Jaan Puhvel, Sander Goldberg, Sarah Morris, Cynthia Shelmerdine, Oliver Taplin, Martin West, Walter Burkert, Mark Edwards, Tom Palaima, Cornelius Ruijgh, George Bass, John Lenz, William Race, and John Foley. I wish also to acknowledge the support of my current colleagues in the Classics Department at Saint Olaf College: my junior colleague and fellow philologue Christopher Brunelle, who regularly sent language oddities my way, and my senior colleagues Anne Groton, who as chair, and James May, who as Dean and Provost, showed sustained interest in the project and saw to it that I had the time and resources neces- sary for its completion. Th ose who are full-time professors at liberal arts colleges, where the primary emphasis is on teaching, mentoring, and advising students, know too well the diffi culty of maintaining the momentum required of a long-term research project. Saint Olaf College has nonetheless fostered an environment where such work is possible, with a generous sabbatical program, an effi cient library system, and amicable colleagues in various disciplines who are gracious with their assistance. I have oft en been reminded that no matter how esoteric and technical a topic may be it is always a salubrious exercise to attempt to share it with a general audience in a comprehensible way. In return they oft en respond by posing unexpected questions and off ering unique perspectives. A project like this requires