Homeric Greek; etymology unknown
Ἰθάκη
Ithaca
Ithákē
The island Odysseus is trying to reach. The name does not securely mean anything we can gloss.
Etymology
Greek Ἰθάκη. No secure etymology. Beekes treats it as Pre-Greek: a name older than the Greek we can analyze, not a transparent compound. Folk ties to ἰθύς, straight, are not a Homeric derivation. English Ithaca is a later spelling. The C that is not kappa is not in the Greek.
Historical usage
In the Odyssey, Ithaca is a small rocky kingdom at the western edge of the Greek world. Tradition points to Ithaki in the Ionian Sea. A later proposal (Paliki, Kephalonia) remains disputed.
Ithaca, New York, was named in 1804 after Homer’s island. About 42°26′N. A namesake, not a relocation of the poem.
Later development
English ordinal ITHACA is 42. Full Reduction is 24. Greek Ἰθάκη is a different sum. Cipher of a later spelling is not Homeric isopsephy.
Why it matters here
The home-word locks in English. The traveler’s English name does not. Forty-two is an invitation: what is home, if we cannot even etymologize its name?
Stories that hold this word
Relationship type is not optional
A word present in a source text is not the same as a later critical term applied to that story.
In the source text
The OdysseyThe island of return. The poem’s Ithaca, not New York.
Related
In the source text
The Odyssey