On Homer's Winged Words

Author(s): Paolo Vivante

Source: The Classical Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 1 (May, 1975), pp. 1-12
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association
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 ON HOMER'S WINGED WORDS

A VERY familiar feature of Homeric style are the lines or phrases which intro-
duce a speech.' We have, for instance:
3 roatat v"tLa'a.EvoS- EE9~7r1 rrdoag OKIV 9AXLAAEVh; (Ii. I. 54)
rV o vS' aTadlEato.LJvo rrpoaEO'q rrdoas WKI%4AXtAAEV (I1i. 1 . 84)

rV 8 7)" El3ECr" ErELra rro35apK17S 8 o00A LXAEVS (II. I. I2I)

Such sentences set forth fully and simply the mere act of saying, answering.
This is quite different from what we find elsewhere. To appreciate the differ-
ence, compare Virgil's usage:
Aeolus haec contra: (Aen. I. 76)
dictis maerentia pectora mulce
illum talis iactantem pectore curas (ibid. 227)
tristior et lacrimis oculos suffusa nitentes
adloquitur Venus:
ac prior 'heus' inquit 'monstrate... (ibid. 321)
tum genitor veterum volvens monumenta virorum (3. I02-3
'audite, o proceres', ait...
In Virgil, as in modern narrative, the act of saying is barely mentioned o
left out altogether. At times the transition from indirect to direct speech com
abruptly, without warning (Aen. 2. 657 ff., 675 ff., 1o. 825 ff.). On the oth
hand, the stress falls on the speaker's position within the general narrative.
are thus drawn away from the actuality of speech to a broader frame
reference. The characters seem to be more concerned with the distant impl
cations of the action than with the present moment. Their motivations
fortunes cover the years. They merge, therefore, into legend, history, roma
and the words they speak illustrate their extending roles.
It is far different in Homer. The verb of saying is never omitted. There
nothing like interjected E`0-q, inquit, said he. Nor is there any sudden transi
from indirect to direct speech. The act of speaking is always underlined, shar
separating the spoken words from their context.2 This is in keeping with t
focus on single acts which we find throughout the poems.

II

The Homeric expressions of 'saying' introducing a speech present a great si

larity of form-time and again such phrases as r-v 8' a&rE rrpoadEMerE, rv
On these, see H. Fournier, 'Formules of expression. Both these scholars are thus
homeriques de ref6rence avec verbe "dire" ', chiefly concerned with the range of 'formu-
Revue de Philologie xx (1946), 29-68; Marklaic' diction-the former to affirm its over-
W. Edwards, 'Homeric Speech Introduc- riding importance, the latter to point out its
tions', H.S.C.P. lxxiv (1970), 1-36. limitations. Though they provide useful
Fournier stresses the influence of metre to classifications, neither of them dwells on the
the detriment of meaning, Edwards shows characteristic value of the words themselves.
how 'formulaic economy' yields to variations 2 Except II. 23. 855, where see Leaf's note.
B

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 2 PAOLO VIVANTE

TJIlepLEr crEra ... The gre

by these equable phrases. W
words, and, on the other, th
evident. We are shown, in
women are thus caught in t
same whatever they may s
It is true, of course, that
introducing a speech: 'he sp
rebuked, implored, comm
looking askance he spoke
stands out gathering to its
course after a narrative climax.
We may thus safely say that the value of speech as voice is never lost. This is
remarkable in poems filled with action. The tide of events is not allowed to
drown so basic an element of human nature. To Homer's eyes natural acts lost
none of their significance for being habitual and familiar. He thus treated
speech in its own right. This is especially apparent in such phrases as 1lov
EETTE, ~dCLro /VOv, EoVoS d/g1Lo, IToEa i tLEr7)V8a (II. 2. 59, 24. 598, Od. 20. I I I, I. 8.
496, etc.), where the accusatives 7-Oov, Eros, era are internal to the act of
speaking. We should translate 'spoke word' and not 'said the following words'.
What these phrases convey is the word itself and the moment it is uttered, not
the following speech and message.

III

The idea of words as something self-existent and not a mere me

munication is beautifully implied in the Homeric phrase E"rra TT
epithet is self-explaining, words have wings in that they fly fro
mouth to the listener's ears.' For Homer this was hardly a
perceived in words a concrete reality: breath gathering into
formed into meaning and travelling through the air.
That the phrase is not merely conventional but reflects the poe
be proved by looking into the way in which words and their na
ceived throughout the poems. Consider the following:

I. The expression
7TOLov UE ET05 OVYEV EpKOS 0 OVTCWV

I1. 4- 350, 14. 83, Od. 1. 64, etc. It gives a physical sense of something just said
and released beyond recall: words seem to escape from the teeth's enclosure
like birds from a cage.
2. Od. 8. 408-9
The Phaeacian Euryalos has offendTEd Odysseus and now appeases him. Hea
3EWVoY, 4lap id 'E'PoLEv ivapirdSeaaat EAAat.

The Phaeacian Euryalos has offended Odysseus and now appeases him. He
x The prevailing view is that the phrase is I think that Era rr'iEpdoEira is no more a
a metaphor from the flight of birds or, with metaphor than, say, jIEa TrvKVa. What we
less taste, from archery: see W. B. Stanford, consider an abstract entity is for Homer a
Greek Metaphor (Oxford, 1936), I36-7. The concrete self-existing thing, and it does not
ancients, oil the other hand, took wrrEpdEI Ta need figurative treatment.
simply as 'swift'. See Ebeling, ad v.

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 ON HOMER'S WINGED WORDS 3

does not tell him that he is sorry for what he sai

cannot be retracted; it exists on its own strength;
blow it away.

3. II. 3. 221-3
ca," GE 87) 6ra TE LyaA7)V CK CT '7GEOS' EL47
Kat E7TEc VLqa'EUatLV EOLIKcOTa XELILEPL?7CV

o eK av rTEr Ov Y EptC TO
Voice surges from Odysseus' breast into words tha
flakes of snow. See how the words are given a glor
whole passage contributes to this effect. Odysseus
but when he speaks he is different, as if his word
him.

4. Od. 8. 170

JhAAa OEO& (Iop,7)V EITEUL UTE.EL.

Cf. I I. 367. It is remarkable that the word ipopoq 'shape' recurs in Homer only
in the two passages just quoted, and in these it refers to words.

5. II. 2. 213
Q' EITEa 4pEat ' Jw aKoaa 7-caTE roAAa rEcq.

Thersites' unruly words are present within him, ready to be bandied about.
Feeling is a word as yet unspoken but solidly existent: in II. I4. 91

tkiOOov, Ov O KEv alqp y t aUrO1za rrTatrrav ayoero

'a word that no one would pull out of his mouth'. Hence the phrase r7 3'

r7TTEpoS ~iTEr' o tCoso 'the word lay unwinged (i.e. unspoken) within her.'"
6. Such forms of expression as EroS... .rr.qavKowv (Od. 22. 131, 247, cf. II. 10.
202), tkLOov. .. 7TEa~jovov (II. 14. 127), EoToS K/PaAov (II. 18. 324), fro rrpo-
E1qKEV (Od. I4. 466) which render the act of speaking as 'to make manifest,
to cast forth a word'.

7. 1i. 2. 41 DEOl 8E ' dtX" ' 'v ot'''4. Compare II. I . 466, 16. 78, Od. 6. 122,
17. 261. In these passages voice is a palpable essence spread around the hearer.
Words, in Homer, brood in the mind, impatient to come out. Once uttered,
they are irrecoverable, and alight on receptive ground. 'Flexible is men's
tongue', Aeneas tells Achilles (II. 20. 248-50) ; 'many sayings lie upon it of all
kinds, and wide is the range of words hither and thither; whatever word you
say you might hear.' It is as if words hovered round the world beyond any
person's will. This movement, however, is not a matter of course. What sets it
off is expression that cannot be withheld. The self-existence of 'winged words' is
one and all with their spontaneity.

IV

We may now try and find out what occasions prompt in Homer the p
EITca rTTEpdOEvraa-why and when it recurs at all. We cannot, of course, lay
ii. 282-3); Frederick Combellack, 'Words
I For other interpretations of this phrase,
see W. B. Stanford's commentary on Od. that17.die', Classical Journal xlvi (1950), 25
n. 7.
57 (The Odyssey of Homer [Macmillan, 1967],

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 4 PAOLO VIVANTE

any rules, but only notice predisp

pression is conceived, it runs its c
however, lies at its root; and it is
There are essentially two statem
Calhoun's' contention that the ph
ings descriptive of character, and
George M. Calhoun, 'The
presented in full physical Art
evidence-feet that of for
mula in Homer--Eca move, eyes that see, a hand that clasps, a
wTrepo'Evra', Cla
Philology xxx (1935), heart that stirs. In each case the act is seen
215-27.
Calhoun's interpretation is based on in the nature of its realization, and its con-
contents. He quotes the passages in whichnection with the context is existential rather
the phrase recurs, trying to show that theythan narrative. It is no different with the act
always imply or indicate emotion. He notesof speaking. Such a phrase as ElAEro XEapl
(p. 223) 'how this supposedly colorless tag iswaXEL7l is in this sense equivalent to &rea
associated with emotional reactions or with wTrepdOEra ipoapoa. Pressure is as distinc-
tense situations, and how completelytive
it of touch as flight is of speech. Words are
covers the whole range of human feeling,winged on the strength of their own nature,
from mild amusement and quiet satisfaction
and not because they serve some alleged
to hot anger and desperate fear'. purpose. They fly out when the situation
We may object, of course, that there is
allows it, when there is an opening in the
hardly a passage in the poems that does action
not or a moment of release, and not for
denote some tension, and that speech in any
the definite purpose. It is arbitrary to
most impassioned dialogues (that betweenencroach on the natural truth of the image,
Agamemnon and Achilles, for instance, as or
Calhoun does when for the sake of his
between Hector and Andromache) is thesisnot he strains the meaning of 7rrEpo'Evra
usually introduced by this phrase. Moreover
into 'quickly spoken', 'animated'. He thus
Homer has more appropriate forms of defeats his own deeper purpose. The phrase
expression to introduce a particular tone:
loses its poetic quality by being so narrowed
down.
cf. oarEpEotS ETrEEUcfa, aaXpoCs rEEaa, dyavois
2 Milman Parry, 'About Winged Words',
E.7Ecaal, etc.
significant Nor would
if Calhoun's the phrase
argument were be very
true. Classical Philology xxxii (1937), 59-63; now
We should have to suppose that 'winged The Making of Homeric Verse (Oxford, I971),
words' underline emotion in any given 414-18.
instance. The phrase would again become a Parry's explanation is simply based on
'tag'-not for the purpose of versification in grammar and metre. Since the sentence
this case, but to earmark a meaning which is 'spoke winged words' always recurs without
otherwise expressed; for the word wrrepdoevra the proper name as subject, Parry believes
does not itself indicate emotion. that it is used to introduce a speech 'when
What Calhoun takes into account is a the character who is to speak has been the
purely narrative value. He writes: 'In subject of the last verses, so that the use of
examining the passages in which the formulahis name in the line would be clumsy'.
is found, I shall treat separately the instancesPointing out that Od. I. 122, for instance,
which refer to the principal characters.'requires not 'and Telemachus said' but 'and
Accordingly he illustrates Odysseus' emo-he said', Parry argues that the poet had no
tions in some fifteen instances. Eumaeus' other way of expressing the meaning 'and he
winged words in Od. 17. 349, 552 he attri- said' in a whole hexameter line.
butes to the affection which Eumaeus has This is surely begging the question. What
previously conceived for Odysseus. Simi- has to be explained is the very fact which is
larly he notes that Achilles speaks winged adduced as a proof: viz., that Telemachus,
words more than anyone else in the Iliad after performing other acts, speaks winged
and proceeds to describe the hero's range words.
of For the phrase 'winged words' is not
emotion in this connection. It is as if the at all indispensable in such a case. Homer
phrase had the function of descriptively did not need a whole line for the meaning
bringing out certain characters or following'he said'. He could very well have let Tele-
up trends of feeling that run through the machus do what he does down to the last
plot. line preceding his speech, simply joining a
This is to miss, I think, something that is verb of 'saying'. This is quite normal in
deeply characteristic of Homer: the render- Homer, cf. II. I. 12-16, 333, 440-1, 5- 799,
ing of acts in their own right. These are 7. I90o, etc. See also M. W. Edwards, op.

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 ON HOMER'S WINGED WORDS 5

the phrase is nothing but a tag to fill up a complet

speaker is left out, having been mentioned just be
are wrong. Homer's winged words do certainly hav
ing is intrinsic to the act of speaking and not s
feeling. What stands out is not the motivation,
expression. Words have wings when they seem to f
unsolicited by any question, unconditioned by the
enforced by any overriding need. That some feelin
out saying, no word was ever spoken without it; b
oblivion of all particular feeling in the rising occa
that opens out in words.
Consider the famous passage in which the elders
before them (II. 3. 154-6O):
OL( s9 OVv
of 8'e EUaOVG
T ov6' 'EAv-qvrE7,T Itvpyo oiv
'EAdpyo
7Ka ,rpo' a A-4Aovs~ rea nTTEpoEVr ayopEVov"
"ot0 vE/wEt!ES
roLTS' Tpwa!S
J4*~i yvvatKa Kat EVKrtL/Lzas
iroXv Xpdvov tAyEaI Xatoks
iraaXew

aEvwi aOavaTrcrlat ES EPS Icra L ELKEV

'AAa KaZ
-qptvwrC~e
OrLV 7TEP E)oic,
O7Tr/olUvW Mqt"aE0ALro'ro."
V vTa vEEUw,

The sight of Helen suddenly inspires the elders to speak. What emotion is
theirs ? The thought of Helen's tragic destiny ? The impression of her beauty ?
rarely plans his sentences ahead ...' Parry
cit. Io-12. In the instance adduced by Parry
thus denies Homer a talent of expression
there were, doubtless, many other ways in
which Telemachus' acts could have been which we enjoy even in ordinary conver-
brought to a close before he spoke. sation-as
Any when, for instance, we describe a
appropriate detail could have come to friend
the who on some occasion said or did
something remarkable, and we so turn our
poet's mind. We could have had, for
description as to fit that occasion. Here is
instance: at LLV vEVO"' AAwv SELSlKErTO a spontaneity which Parry seems to ignore.
OdwvqaEv TE: or otoS ,vEvO' aAAWV" rKal JLv It is neither a question of 'planning ahead'
Tp'3s iO0ov IETE: or o80o0 d' Eoar7I"S ial nor of composing from instant to instant
L 'V 7rpS
been tOov(cf.
qualified E'EL7E:
Ioo): or the spear
18dearo might have
XaAKEOV through an acquired instinct. Thought pre-
figures its outcome even at the moment it
'yXOsE LEEv.
/pIov / tpp0h tudya UranLap'dv" Ka tLLV rpOs comes to mind-something of which anyone
The phrase 'rEa 7rrEpoEvra must thus be may be aware in a creative mood.
explained on its own merits. The fact that It may be objected, however, that my
no proper name recurs as its subject in the argument is subjective and does not amount
same line is but a necessary detail of syntax to any proof. If this be so, let us look at the
and metre, it is a result and not a cause. It phrase itself. Consider these points: (i) The
cannot be used to explain the value of the phrase is never used merely to introduce a
words. Rather the question should be put speech, though such a verse as To3v 8' a;
thus: why is it that the moment of the T-nA4Laxog~ Er'a rTEpoe'Evra rpoan0dVa would be
utterance should be so emphasized as to metrically correct. (2) It hardly ever intro-
occupy a whole line ? In order to answer, we duces a mere reply in the form 7r-v 3' dirajes-
have to account for the movement of the
PflO'vos E7rEa 7rTTEPdvra rpot-qv'a. (3) In its
whole passage-how it leads to the climaxmost frequent form atl p uv 5wvjcasa w7rEa
of 'winged words'. Parry, on the other hand, 7TrEPoEVTa 7Tpoac-Tq7 a the pure act of speaking
argues that Homer could not plan his is rendered in extraordinary fullness. Here
syntax so far ahead. He writes: 'This would are sure signs of expressive value. This
be a very complex sort of verse-making and should give us pause before we elevate
quite foreign to the way in which such Parry's notion of facility in the composition
traditional and oral song as that of Homer is to an aesthetic principle.
composed. The singer of oral narrative

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6 PAOLO VIVANTE

Admiration, reproof? All o

be closer to the truth if w
vague, undefined; what ma
startling visualization. The
witness. They fly out in t
ing at Odysseus, Od. 8. 4
beauty, Od. 16. 179-81. S
Or take II. 16. 5-6, of Ac

Tov SE 18 06 CKrtpE 7rT

Kal (Ltv LwvgbaaW E'7Ta r

Achilles, of course, pities h

are his words winged ? It
him. The instant moment
340-I, Od. i1. 55-6, 395-6
panying emotion may be-
as in II. 4. 336-7, 368-9:
occasion which cannot be
Recognition similarly pro
emotions involved as becau
who dissuades him from

caL7v 8' UVa AXLtAEV'S, L

17aAAha' AO-qva&tv qELV
Kal tLLV ;wcV7)S E7TELa r-

Achilles is struck, his agg

words come up from a new
for speech so freshly insp
Antikleia's ghost in Od. i
recognizes her son Odyss
breath finding the air aga
The scenes of reunion str
a dramatic separation, it
moment breaks into win
meeting him after she f
(16. 17-22). Even more str
come him back from Cir
perished under her spells
sally out welcoming their m
as if they were back in I
Notice, in all these instan
neither of grief nor joy. I
most simply the quickenin
into voice and made articu
source of expression. Even
formed into swine give ou

IrJo'v a' EPO ELS' vlTav )/osX

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 ON HOMER'S WINGED WORDS 7

What is this sweet cry ? A sign of human speech ju

from within.'
Moments of realization and enlightenment fill the poems, as the characters
are brought face to face. Any meeting, visit, approach no sooner takes place
than it becomes a compelling matter, an occasion for expression. Winged
words thus come from Telemachus when he sees Athena waiting at the door
unattended, and he is suddenly roused, runs to meet her (Od. I. 118-22), cf. 4-
20-5, I3. 221-7, 1f. 15. 87-9. So Theoclymenus abruptly joining Telemachus,
Od. 15. 256-9. A warrior addressing another, unexpectedly, in the battlefield,
II. 8. 99-10o, 13. 459-62, 16. 534-7, 17. 215-19, cf. Od. 22. 99-1oo. Gods
suddenly intervening, II. 4. 86-92, 5. 121-3, 14. 135-8, 17. 71-4, i8. 166-9,
20. 330-1, 22. 214-15, 226-8, Od. 2. 267-9. This is most pointedly the case of
Thetis speeding to comfort Achilles (11. 18. 70-2).
There need not be any particular encounter. The moment for winged words
may come of itself through some arresting development of the action. Again
they are winged because unsolicited. Such are those of Hecuba in her last
appeal to Hector, II. 22. 81. Or those which Hector hurls after striking down
Patroclus, II. 16. 829, cf. II. 22. 377, 20. 448, Od. 18. 104. Circe so speaks the
moment her spell is broken, Od. 10. 324; Odysseus when he checks Eurycleia's
cry of triumph over the slain suitors, Od. 22. 41o; Irus in his unprovoked
challenge, Od. 18. 9; Leiodes taking an opportunity to pray for his life, Od. 22.
31, cf. 342, 366, II. 21. 73. Or, again, the occasion may be less weighty, but
equally sudden and unsought-as when the words accompany the giving of
a gift, or in greetings and good wishes. Cf. Od. 8. 442, 13- 58, 17- 349, 20. 198,
24. 399-
Elsewhere the occasion is all contained in the speaker's mind, as when
dawning decision compels him to speak, RI. 2. 5-7, Od. 19. 1-3, cf. 15. 202-8.
Or painful thought comes up eliciting winged words as well as tears. So
Peisistratus thinking of his dead brother Antilochus (Od. 4. 189)
70) 0 Y E7L(LqLV7E1LS E7rEa 7rrEpoEv-ra 7rpo'77'la.
Any sudden perception, anything noticed even casually, may likewise suggest
abruptly a sense of participation and occasion winged words. In Od. 4- 76-7
Menelaus overhears Telemachus talking to Peisistratus about the splendour of
his house and speaks out:
roe ' ayopEvov-roS VeEvro aveO' MEv~haos
KaL rEcS qwv7o)UcSaE 7rELa rrEpdEV-ra rrpoorU7Sa.

Cf. Od. 17. 541-4, 16. 5-7-

Or sudden danger looms ahead, and one character turns to another with
winged words. So in II. 14. 1-2:
NrIropa S' O5UK AaOEv ..aX . n-vov-r7p E7u
aAA' A0lKAqrta`3qv ErEa 7rTTEpoEVra 7rpoouv7a.

Cf. 1. 5. 241-2, 711-13.

E lpdOEs ydoo has been strangely inter-We should let IljepO'EtS mean as usual 'lovely'
preted as equivalent, or similar, to rLEpoS'sweet', and we should accept the originality
ydo'o 'desire of crying'. So Faesi, Merry andof the Homeric sentence in its obvious sense.
Riddell, Stanford. Surely such a use of the I take r4E'Sv as 'emerged from within', cf.
adjective is quite unhomeric. Nor does suchOd. 6. 127, 20. 53. We could then take
a meaning make any sense in this passage.v7auw as a dative of 'interest', cf. II. I. 599.

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 8 PAOLO VIVANTE

In all the instances quoted t

introduces a speech which f
much a reply as a reaction a
17 Hermes has just spoken

W !bOlro. A 'nyaEv SE g
Ka u l ' wV7O aa7ETEr 7TT

A similar sequence in II. 15

3, 287-90, 17. 458-9, cf. II.
interlude with the interve
notably the case in Odysse

9
T1ch7ipds
.oa', a39 p c6 y vy' E
PEnelo fovrv EAinE&V

irpS rcve, we WponjOeuv, CA"ELsV Te M OVtiMFO aVyEL,

TPtS 8E' JM &K XELPAV MKL ) K04EAOV "7 Kat OVeq'q)

7TIrar" EMo& aXO.V EV o EVyaKETO K7pGtUL /LAAOV,

Kal /tLV wv2aaLs ETEa 7rTT1EpoEVra 7Tpoafl7v.v.

Cf. I. 19. 12-20, 23. 596-6oi, Od. 13. 287-90, 23. 32-4.
We might compare with these certain other instances in which a dialogue
between two persons extends to a third one. In Od. 23. 112, for instance:
Telemachus chides Penelope for remaining aloof from Odysseus, she replies
with reticence, whereupon Odysseus solves the difficulty intervening with
winged words. Cf. I1. 4. 68-9, 12. 364-5, Od. 8. 343-6, 17. 396. Again the phrase
tunes us to something new-not in mood only, but in the broadening scene.
Are we now in a better position to say why and where the poet uses the
expression 'winged words' ? It is easier, perhaps, to say where it does not occur.
It is significant that we hardly ever find it for the meaning 'to answer' in such
a line as 'answering he said winged words.'" Nor does it introduce any of the
great dialogues: what matters there is the interplay of characters rather than
the utterance itself. Nor, again, does it occur where the reason for speaking is
obvious-for instance in asking 'who are you?' to a newly arrived stranger. Nor
in solemn statements where the words seem prepared in advance-in an oath or
a prayer to the gods. Nor, on the other hand, where anger or any one-sided
passion channels speech in a determined direction-as when Achilles or
Thersites attacks Agamemnon.
Winged words thus mostly come when the mind is free, quick, receptive,
sympathetic; they are neither aggressive nor self-conscious but naturally
effusive. What the phrase points out is, therefore, the inherent spontaneity of
speech: sense-perception instantly transformed into the airy substance of
words. 'He saw ... and he spoke winged words'-the connection is as simple as
this, and as baffling. Here is utterance in its purest form. Outside the pressure
of drama, it presents the wonder of voice made suddenly articulate-the vocal

We have Kal iuv d &Lfld0E voS ia in Od. 9. 409 ol S' dwalELfpod'evO L trea rrepd-
rrTrpdovra wrpoaqr3a in II. 15. 48, 23. 257 Yv'r" ypevov of the Cyclopes replying to
where Kal puv covnaaS etc. would have been Polyphemus. It is remarkable that this
usage is so rare, considering the many
more like Homer; in II. 7. 356 /Puv possible occasions.
aJelPOjdlmos EIrTEa rTEpdO'Va lTpoar4a where
the relative phrase seems quite exceptional;

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 ON HOMER'S WINGED WORDS 9

element rather than the message, the distinction

than the speaker's tone.'
V

We might compare with ierea 7rT-EpdEVra rpoo-W

ETOS~ T E2T7 IEK T ovotLELa

'spoke word and called'.2 Again it stresses the act

again it introduces a fresh address or marks a n
Most often another phrase precedes: v 7' T"pa o
KaTrpE1e. We thus have:

EV .5 Cl 0 oL cpu XELP1 E17TOT' T elLT ' EK Tv

and XELPt TE /JAV KaTCPe-VE V07TOS ' gr o

This is significant. We are given an outline of w
meet: a clasping of hands, a caress, and a spe
hastening to present his characters and bring us
Why do we not find on such occasions the line

KEatU LV 0WV7UTS 7TEa 7TcrTEpoEV7ca TpOUTq

which the poet might well have used? The answe

I In more than one third of the instances 219, 21. 73, Od. 10. 265, 430, 482. We also
we have Kat ,tuv O v-aas (or wvuvaaa') Erreafind er'a 1rEpdoevT' dydpevov 'they conversed'
TrrCepdeva rpoa'qv'a which I would translatewithout introducing a speech in II. 24. 142,
'and breaking into voice he (or she) spokeOd. I3. I65-
winged words.' We have the pure emission of 2 The traditional explanation 'said and
sound and the articulation into words. The called by name', a hysteron proteron, cannot be
moment of the utterance is thus given full right. It makes the meaning very flat.
evidence. Cf. J. Classen, Beobachtungen iiber Besides, the proper name very often does not
den Homerischen Sprachgebrauch (Frankfurt, recur in the speech that follows, and, con-
1879), 115-20. versely, there are in the poems countless
We might suppose that this was the origi- addresses which have the vocative of the
nal form of the expression, or at least the one person addressed and are not introduced by
that best renders the Homeric stress on the this phrase. In Od. 21. 248 we even find the
act itself. Elsewhere we find it modified to phrase introducing a soliloquy, cf. 7. 330.
On the contrary, we have a climax: first the
suit the context: Kal tIfL ztovjaaS is replaced
with more descriptive participles (Kal P'simple utterance ('spoke word') and then
speech made more specific, pressing,
do vpdo`jLEvos, dyxo 6 '" 'TrdaEVo., Kal otpersonal ('named'). We may understand
eXd4pEvoS, etc.) or with the name of the
person addressed (e.g. atla S' A",4vail'v
dvoYLaELv as 'naming things by their right
E7Tra 7r2EpOEV7-a irpoaqp63a).
name', cf. I. 9. 515, I8. 449, Od. 24. 339-
It stands to reason that, through its See H. Jacobsohn, 'Zum homerischen
extensive use, the phrase tends to lose its ETos 7 E'ar' EK 7' dvdiLaC,' Zeitschrift fuir
original value. Thus it seems to lack all vergleichende Sprachforschung lxii (1935), 132-
poignancy in the mock-heroic battles of the 40. He rules out any hysteron proteron, denying
gods-I-. 21. 409, 419, 427, cf. 5. 871. In II. that EK
15. 145 of Hera who merely repeats an order name' on 7 ovdoia`E
the ground could mean
that this 'called
would by
require
of Zeus. So II. 4. 203. We may also note that an aorist. He also excludes, however, the
meaning 'put into words'. Cf. C. Mutzbauer,
the whole line Kat pv r o#wcvuag 7Ea rrpdEYVra Die Grundlage der griechischen Tempuslehre und
7rpoar?,va is omitted by some manuscripts in
several instances in which it might have der Homerische Tempusgebrauch (Strassburg,
seemed superfluous: II. 4. 369, 10o. 191, 17. I909), ii. I I3.

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 0o PAOLO VIVANTE
imply a lingering moment. They would
mache's pressing address to Hector in
Or compare II. I. 359-61 :

Kap7TEahllWs '' civi'v vroAti3- d~ &A 77

Ka pa rcrpoLO' a'roLOo KaOE'E-ro CK

XELPt TE [LUV Ka-rEpEeEV, E7TOT 7 EU

with II. i8. 70-2:

r- 8E flap v aTE1aXOVTL rraptra-ro7TO

c~u K EKwKLuEaaaa" raKap) A3a a Tc

KaE p oAhovpoLEVl77 E7TEa 7TTEprEVTa T

Both passages portray an identical situat

Achilles when he has just been wronged,
herself the partner of a common grief
different forms of address seem quite j
and appeal, in II. 18. 72 an embrace and
Such nuance may even be felt within t
We have Odysseus just landed in Ithaca
shepherd. He has just given her a false a
sees through him:
a- cdro" ILTG JEVaE 8' OE yAaUVK(1
XELPL TE [UVV KrEpEE' SEl ElES8' 77l KT

KA7- E LEYcA77 TE Kal dya a"pya

KaU I=OV oJVcaa E7Ea 7TrEpOEYra v
The phrase XEapl rd 'UV KaL7r'pe~ leads u
But no. The caress is abruptly left by
goddess reveals her true nature; her rela
quality, and what she is going to say is n
Compare Circe's address to Odysseus i
At times, however, the two forms of e
other. It is hard to draw precise distinct
said, however, that the simple phrase br
more readily into a narrative sequence.
feminine caesura, it comes with a height
and forthwith set in a new light by the
Scamander, for instance, is beset with f
356:
KaLEToS' S g TOTa/1OEO E7T5 T E9 T3 EoaK o ovooE.
Cf. II. 3- 396-8, I4. 214-I8, Od. 6. 25I-4, 8. I93-4, I8. 163, 19. 401-2.

VI

The greater part of the poems, as often remarked, consists in direct spe
They do justice to the spoken word; and the Homeric phrase T Erea rT1EpO
continually reminds us ofit. Homer implicitly glorifies expression.
But why is it so? What quality sustains the prevalent dramatic form? T
answer is that dialogue in Homer is individual self-expression and not a c

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 ON HOMER'S WINGED WORDS 11

venient way of explaining the plot. Take,

and Andromache: it does not subserve the a
what they actually are to each other. Even
action, it is not at all supplementary. C
memnon, or Polydamas Hector. In each
speech and produces action ex novo, while
drop. This is not the case with other wo
histories, novels, plays-in which the c
prepare discursively for what is going to
By breaking myth into dialogue and ca
event, Homer vindicated the human value
finding its way through the turmoil of du
shade. What we are presented with is no c
but some crucial instance unravelling its
anyone say when faced with friend or foe,
of drama showed how events are realized s
out of sheer occurrence. Think of Hector a
fronting Achilles. He has no memorable m
inevitable as the moment that breaks u
whole gamut from weakness to bravery, a
an existential function, they are fundamen
Events rendered as experience, experie
continually find in the poems. Taken in
'winged words' vividly points to this basic
into concrete form, into self-existing word
The natural wonder of speech was thus
expression. Homer saw the one in terms of
of words, he followed up his own apprehe
also drew upon an ancient source: the s
speech. We find in the poems several noun
understood:' ,cooa, d k4o, M~njs, KA778oj.
as an independent agency, whether as pro
spreading on its own strength. Such must
rros. Here was a force both mysterious an
interest lay elsewhere-in self-evident wor
from without. Hence his ~'VEa 7rrEpdEvra.
mystery, but they are essentially human.
that reveal and command had been conver
and persuasion. The magic lay no longe
transparency of words simply uttered and
We seem to touch in Homer a point at w
tious matter and left to the inspiration of
not depend upon an external theme but on
is fresh experience that gives them natura
brute facts are turned into drama, the im
burden and translated into meaning. Speec
is why Homer never opposes deeds to

I See P. Chantraine, La Formation

Fournier, Les des noms
Verbes 'dire' en
en grec ancien (Paris,1946),
1933),
227-9. 97, I 3, 36I; H.

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 12 PAOLO VIVANTE

authors. He sees them, rathe

the activity of life in the ph
IwOwv TE pqr'-qp E.LEvat 7

Speech is the highest achieve

McGill University, Montreal PAOLO VIVANTE

that is 'to perform an action which has b
' Thus in the Homeric phrase epyov e
mentioned':
ros e word and deed are not opposed to II. 14. 44, 23- 544; cf. Od. 3.
each other but form a kind of226, hendiadys
4. 776-7, II. 348, 15. 536, 20. 236,
22. 454
expressing one sole idea: I. 15. 234, Od.and
I.i Leaf's note. The only exam
to 2.
346; cf. II. I. 77, Io8, 19. 242, Od. the contrary
272, 3. which I can find are II.
99, 4. 163, 15. 375. We may compare630, 4- 400,
the I8. I06, and they are only
barest hint.
phrase TeAdv voS 'to bring about a word',

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