From another young reader comes this perceptive question:
Where did the word "Odyssey" come from and why is Odysseus named that?
As far as we know, "Odyssey" came from "Odysseus," not the other way around.
Back in the old days, Homer's poem about Odysseus didn't have a title. People just said "That poem about Odysseus." Which in Greek was Odysseia. This finally became Odyssey in English.
Much later on, some folks began to give the name "odyssey" to very long journeys which resembled the 10-year adventure of Odysseus to reach his home in Ithaca. As a word, "odyssey" isn't that old-- my edition of the Oxford English Dictionary says the first "odyssey" as a "very long journey" only appeared in 1889. Odysseus the hero might be 3,000 years older than that.
The name Odysseus itself comes from the ancient Greek word odyssomai, which can mean "to receive and give pain." Odysseus' grandfather, Autolycus, named him, as these words from Book 19 of the Odyssey indicate.
I come here as one who is odious, yes,
Hateful to many from the pain I have caused
All over the land. Let this child, therefore,
go by the name of Odysseus [The man of pain].Odyssey, Book 19, lines 445-448. Translation Lombardo
Autolycus names Odysseus, in a way, after himself. It's the grandfather who has caused pain.
Later on, Odysseus becomes true to his name and gains fame by giving and receiving pain. He was one of the greatest warriors of the Trojan War, and brought great pain to his enemies. But when he tried to go home, pain started coming to him-- in the form of shipwrecks, challenges against monsters, and waiting, waiting, waiting, as a prisoner of the goddess Calypso, with no chance of going home.
Today, an odyssey is a very long journey. Back in Odysseus' time, they might have considered it a "journey of pain."
What was the sign or banner on the shield of Odyssesus? What was the banner or flag of Ithaca?
Posted by: Elton Massey | January 15, 2006 at 07:54 PM
Elton, Expect a post on this soon.
Posted by: DF | January 16, 2006 at 11:33 PM