οἶνοψ

Ancient Greek

FWOTD – 3 December 2017

The dark Mediterranean Sea

Etymology

From οἶνος (oînos, “wine”) +‎ -οψ (-ops) ( connected to ὄψ (óps, “eye; face”)).

In Mycenaean Greek Linear B, 𐀺𐀜𐀦𐀰 (wo-no-qo-so) (KN Ch 1015)^[1] and 𐀺𐀜𐀦𐀰𐀤 (wo-no-qo-so-qe) (KN Ch 897)^[1] (a name of a bull, perhaps connected to the use of bullshead rhytons to contain ritual wine) is taken to be the same term.^[2]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ôi̯.nops/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈy.nops/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈy.nops/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈy.nops/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈi.nops/

Adjective

οἶνοψ • (oînops) m or f (neuter οἴνοπος); third declension

(Homeric epithet of the sea or cattle) an epithet traditionally rendered as "wine-dark" and taken to mean wine-colored and hence dark, reddish (as the sea at sunset), bluish (like some wines), or purplish
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 2.613:
  αὐτὸς γάρ σφιν δῶκεν ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν Ἀγαμέμνων
  νῆας ἐϋσσέλμους περάᾱν ἐπὶ οἴνοπα πόντον
  Ἀτρεΐδης, ἐπεὶ οὔ σφι θαλάσσια ἔργα μεμήλει.
  autòs gár sphin dôken ánax andrôn Agamémnōn
  nêas eüssélmous peráān epì oínopa pónton
  Atreḯdēs, epeì oú sphi thalássia érga memḗlei.
  For Agamemnon son of Atreus himself had given [the Arcadians]
  strong-benched ships for crossing the wine-dark sea,
  since they weren't interested in the work of the sea.
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 13.31–35:
  ὡς δ’ ὅτ’ ἀνὴρ δόρποιο λιλαίεται, ᾧ τε πανῆμαρ
  νειὸν ἀν’ ἕλκητον βόε οἴνοπε πηκτὸν ἄροτρον ...
  ὣς Ὀδυσῆ’ ἀσπαστὸν ἔδῡ φάος ἠελίοιο.
  hōs d’ hót’ anḕr dórpoio lilaíetai, hôi te panêmar
  neiòn an’ hélkēton bóe oínope pēktòn árotron ...
  hṑs Odusê’ aspastòn édū pháos ēelíoio.
  As when a man longs for supper who all day
  has had two wine-dark oxen pulling a crafted plow through fallow land, ...
  so it was welcome for Odysseus that the sun's light set.
- 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Works and Days 620
- 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Works and Days 815

Usage notes

Since it is used of the sea at sunset, some scholars think this word meant deep red,^[3]^[4] but others are sceptical that Homer meant the sea or oxen were red/wine-colored.^[2] Some speculate Homer may have had blue wine, but the word is elsewhere used of oxen.^[4] Eleanor Irwin suggested it indicated a dark surface reflecting light like wine in a goblet.^[5] Michael Clarke suggested it was meant to evoke not just the appearance of wine but its effects (e.g., when Achilles is at the "wine-dark" sea, he is intoxicated with grief).^[4]
For other hypotheses ― such as the geology of the Peloponnesus sea being filled with minerals that would raise the pH of diluted (as was Greek custom) wine to appear more bluish, and well as romantic notions of how the Greeks saw color — see Wine-Dark Sheep: Ancient Color in a Modern Greek Odyssey by Alana R. Benson.
Note that Moses of Chorene (5th c.) quotes an Armenian legend of the 'Birth of Vahagn' from the 'purple sea', ծով (cov) ծիրանի (cirani).

Declension

Third declension of οἶνοψ; οἶνοψ (Attic)

Number	Singular		Dual		Plural
Case/Gender	Masculine / Feminine	Neuter	Masculine / Feminine	Neuter	Masculine / Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	οἶνοψ oînops	οἶνοψ oînops	οἴνοπε oínope	οἴνοπε oínope	οἴνοπες oínopes	οἴνοπᾰ oínopa
Genitive	οἴνοπος oínopos	οἴνοπος oínopos	οἰνόποιν oinópoin	οἰνόποιν oinópoin	οἰνόπων oinópōn	οἰνόπων oinópōn
Dative	οἴνοπῐ oínopi	οἴνοπῐ oínopi	οἰνόποιν oinópoin	οἰνόποιν oinópoin	οἴνοψῐ / οἴνοψῐν oínopsi(n)	οἴνοψῐ / οἴνοψῐν oínopsi(n)
Accusative	οἴνοπᾰ oínopa	οἶνοψ oînops	οἴνοπε oínope	οἴνοπε oínope	οἴνοπᾰς oínopas	οἴνοπᾰ oínopa
Vocative	οἶνοψ oînops	οἶνοψ oînops	οἴνοπε oínope	οἴνοπε oínope	οἴνοπες oínopes	οἴνοπᾰ oínopa
Derived forms	Adverb		Comparative		Superlative
Derived forms	οἰνόπως oinópōs		—		—
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

References

“οἶνοψ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“οἶνοψ”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
“οἶνοψ”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
οἶνοψ in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
οἶνοψ in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 John Chadwick, J. T. Killen, J. P. Olivier, The Knossos Tablets (1971, →ISBN), page 46
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Karl Kerényi, Dionysos
^ Edzard Visser, Homer 1977–2000, in Lustrum Band 56: 2014 edited by Marcus Deufert, Michael Weißenberger
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 Shane Butler, Alex Purves, Synaesthesia and the Ancient Senses (→ISBN, 2014)
^ Eleanor Irwin, Colour terms in Greek poetry (→ISBN, 1974), page 28: The epithet οἶνοψ in Homer's oft-quoted "wine-dark" sea also describes cattle (Od. 5.132). We may well wonder what point of comparison exists between wine and water and also between wine and cattle. The author inclines to the view that a dark surface reflecting light is in all cases being described. Wine in the ancient world was seen, not through glass as in modern times, but in an opaque crater or cup. It was the surface that caught the eye. Similarly the sea viewed from land or shipboard may, under appropriate weather conditions, appear dark with reflected lights. In the case of cattle, too, the surface, i.e. hide, may be dark and glossy.

[Knossos-1] 1.0 ^1.1 John Chadwick, J. T. Killen, J. P. Olivier, The Knossos Tablets (1971, →ISBN), page 46

[Kerényi-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Karl Kerényi, Dionysos

[3] Edzard Visser, Homer 1977–2000, in Lustrum Band 56: 2014 edited by Marcus Deufert, Michael Weißenberger

[Butler-Purves-4] 4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 Shane Butler, Alex Purves, Synaesthesia and the Ancient Senses (→ISBN, 2014)

[5] Eleanor Irwin, Colour terms in Greek poetry (→ISBN, 1974), page 28: The epithet οἶνοψ in Homer's oft-quoted "wine-dark" sea also describes cattle (Od. 5.132). We may well wonder what point of comparison exists between wine and water and also between wine and cattle. The author inclines to the view that a dark surface reflecting light is in all cases being described. Wine in the ancient world was seen, not through glass as in modern times, but in an opaque crater or cup. It was the surface that caught the eye. Similarly the sea viewed from land or shipboard may, under appropriate weather conditions, appear dark with reflected lights. In the case of cattle, too, the surface, i.e. hide, may be dark and glossy.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]