Words

Etymology is not folklore. Theory is not origin.

Orientation

The word first

• νόστος

  Nostos

  Return, homecoming, especially the return from abroad or war.

  Homeric Greek

• ξενία

  Xenia

  Guest-friendship and the reciprocal, and sometimes broken, obligations of host and stranger.

  Homeric Greek

• μῆτις

  Metis

  Cunning intelligence, craft, counsel. Not later philosophical wisdom, and not a vice-list for lying.

  Homeric Greek

• κλέος

  Kleos

  Report, rumor, glory: that which is heard. Glory is acoustic.

  Homeric Greek

• κατάβασις

  Katabasis

  A going down. Ordinary descent first. Underworld narratives later. Not every grief.

  Ancient Greek

• līmen

  Limen

  Threshold, lintel, doorway. Architecture first. Anthropology centuries later.

  Latin

• ἀναγνώρισις

  Anagnorisis

  Recognition: the turn from ignorance to knowledge. Aristotle’s term, not Homer’s.

  Classical Greek

• peregrīnus

  Pilgrimage

  A traveler from abroad, then a traveler to a sacred place. The word itself has a road.

  English, via Old French, from Latin

• exilium

  Exile

  Banishment, and the place of banishment. Not a synonym for travel.

  English, via Old French, from Latin

• queste

  Quest

  A seeking. Medieval romance made it a structured hunt. Epic did not always name itself this way.

  English, via Old French, from Latin

• מִדְבָּר

  Midbar

  Wilderness, steppe, grazing land. A kind of country. Not a mood, and not automatically a metaphor for the soul.

  Biblical Hebrew

• pabbajjā

  Pabbajjā

  Going forth from the home life into homelessness. An act and a status, still used in ordination. Not a mood called renunciation.

  Pali; Sanskrit pravrajyā

• Ἰθάκη

  Ithaca

  The island Odysseus is trying to reach. The name does not securely mean anything we can gloss.

  Homeric Greek; etymology unknown

• 𒂗𒃶𒌌𒀭𒈾

  Enheduanna

  An office-name: high priestess, ornament of heaven.

  Sumerian

• 𒀭𒈹

  Inanna

  Queen of heaven in Sumerian. The English smash INANNA does not lock twenty-four or forty-two.

  Sumerian

• Ištar

  Ishtar

  The Akkadian name of a goddess syncretized with Inanna. Not a translation of Inana.

  Akkadian

• Ḫuwawa

  Humbaba

  Guardian of the cedar forest. The name cannot be securely glossed.

  Sumerian then Akkadian; meaning unknown

• quaestio

  Question

  A seeking. Reverse Reduction forty-two. Answer does not lock.

  English, from Latin

One story, many words

The Odyssey does not speak later criticism

νόστος

νόστος

Not only return

Homeric usage: return from war, especially by sea, and the story of that return. A circle is one possible drawing. It is not the word’s proof.

1. 01

   Absence

2. 02

   Return

3. 03

   Home

Semantic visualization, not a claim that every nostos is circular. Nostalgia (1688) is another word.

The word

ξενία

ξενία

What passes between host and stranger

Xenia is a relation among host, gift, and stranger. Reciprocity is not guaranteed. Zeus Xenios watches. Violation is part of the Odyssey’s evidence.

• Honored

  Phaeacia

  Bath, food, a ship home. The stranger is received before he is named.

• Violated

  Cyclops

  The guest is food. The stone is a door.

• Strained from inside

  Ithaca

  The suitors eat a household they do not host.

The word

μῆτις

μῆτις

One Greek word does not have one English word waiting

• cunning

  Nobody in the cave

• craft

  the horse, the bed

• counsel

  what to say, and when

• resourcefulness

  a raft, a beggar

• practical intelligence

  Detienne and Vernant

• not later wisdom

  not a vice-list

The word

κλέος

κλέος

Glory is something heard

1. Etymology

   Voice

   Related to κλύω, to hear. PIE *ḱléwos. Reconstruction marked.

2. Usage

   Hearing

   Rumor, report, renown in Homer. Not a medal.

3. Interpretation

   Memory

   Nagy: fame conferred by song. Theory, after the poems.

The word

līmen

līmen

Theory is not origin

1. Latin

   līmen

   Threshold, lintel, doorway.

2. 1909

   van Gennep

   The middle phase of a rite of passage.

3. 1960s

   Turner

   Liminality, communitas.

4. Now

   liminal spaces

   A popular afterlife. Not the Latin.

The word

ἀναγνώρισις · Aristotle, not Homer

ἀναγνώρισις

Not known · sign · known

1. Not known

   A beggar. A nurse. A wife who will not be rushed.

2. Sign

   Scar. Name. Rooted bed. A dog who knows the smell.

3. Known

   Different recognizers, different proofs. Craft, not a Jungian Self.

The word

The word’s own road

Pilgrimage does not jump from English to Latin

1. Latin

   peregrīnus

   classical / late

   foreign, from abroad

2. Old French

   pelerin / peligrin

   medieval

   pilgrim, stranger

3. Middle English

   pilegrim / pilgrim

   MED

   traveler to a holy place

4. Modern English

   pilgrimage

   now

   the practice, not only the person

OED / MED / Wiktionary chain. Living traditions are not specimens of this English word.

The word

exilium

Word history is not the history of exile

1. Latin

   exilium / exsilium

   banishment; the place of banishment

2. Old French

   exil

   the legal and lived condition

3. English

   exile

   still not a synonym for travel

The word

queste

We now call certain stories quests. Their original cultures did not always.

The word

One word, several English choices

νόστος does not have a single English lock

Brief English equivalents, not ranked. Each illuminates something and hides something. Public-domain Murray; later names for orientation only.