Epithets (Grammar 1: declensions)

δῖος Ὀδυσσεὺς

(Hom. Od. 6.1)

("divine Odysseus")

-ος: it's the ending of the NOM sg masc.

δῖος : "divine, god-like", also "noble, worthy, thrusty". Adj NOM sg. Literally means "of (or from) Zeus", since it derives from Διός , the GEN sg of Ζεύς (the king of the Gods of Mount Olympus).

Ὀδυσσεύς : NOM sg, the main hero of the Odyssey.


A note on historical morphology and the conventional distinction of three "declensions" in the inflection of Greek nouns: the so called athematic or third declension, to which Ζεύς and Ὀδυσσεύς belong, has the most archaic traits (cfr. Chantraine 1961 ch.2-4, § 10-11, 48).

The adjective δῖος belongs instead to the second or thematic declension.

γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη

(Hom. Od. 6.13)

("owl-faced Athena")

γλαυκῶπις: "owl-faced", NOM sg fem (GEN: γλαυκῶπιδος), from γλαύξ "little owl" and ὤψ "face"

γλαύξ: "little owl" (GEN: γλαυκός; ἡ) is distinct from the adjective γλαυκός -ή -όν, meaning "light blue" and also "gleaming, sparkling, shining, glaring, .."

ὤψ (GEN: ὠπός; ἡ) means "face, appearance, look" in homeric Greek. Later it came to mean "eyes", used usually in a plural form.

ἑλικώπιδα κούρην

(Hom. Il. 1.98)

("The black-eyed girl")

ἑλικώπιδα (adj.fem. ACC. sg, NOM: ἑλικῶπις, GEN: ἑλικῶπιδος; is the feminine form of adj ἑλίκωψ -ωπος, supposedly formed by ἑλικός + ὤψ). It seems to refer to a person's beauty, but the precise meaning is uncertain, because it's not clear from which of the base ἑλικ- words it derives, from ἕλιξ , "spiral" or from ἑλικός, "black, dark" (cf. Miller 2014 p.245).

It has been variously translated as "black / dark-eyed", or "with winding, rolling, bright, sparkling, quick-glancing, lively, lovely eyes".

It is used six times in the Iliad to refer to the Achaeans, with the verse-ending formula ἑλίκωπες Ἀχαιοὶ . Il 1.98 is the only verse in the Iliad in which it is used to refer to a girl. Similar uses are found in Hesiod (cf. Schein 2020, which points to fragments 43.19 and 180.13), as in Ἔχιδναν, ἥμισυ μὲν νύμφην ἑλικώπιδα καλλιπάρῃον ("Echidna, who is half a nymph with glancing eyes and fair cheeks", Theog. 298). The common word for black in Greek is μέλας .

κούρην : (ACC fem sg) "girl, maiden", with nominative κούρη. This is the epic and Ionic form, the Attic one being κόρη (GEN κόρης, ACC κόρην). In Doric and Aeolic it was κόρα.

And now for something completely different.

Βρισηίδα καλλιπάρῃον

(Hom. Il. 1.323)

("the fair-cheeked Briseïs")

καλλιπάρῃον: adj derived from καλλι- (from καλός, "beautiful") and παρειά (ἡ, "cheek")

Βρισηίς, ἡ (GEN: Βρισηίδος) is Briseïs.

-ον: ACC sg. (2nd declension nouns and 1st declension adjectives).

-α (in Βρισηίδα): ACC sg. f/m (3rd declension nouns).

Φοῖβος Ἀπόλλων

(Hom. Il. 1.43)

("Apollo the Bright One, Bright Apollo")

-ος: NOM sg. masc.

-ων: NOM of Ἀπόλλων.

ἔργα τε κύκλωπος πεύσῃ περίφοιτα σελήνης

(Parmenides, On Nature B 10.4)

("And you will learn the revolving works of the round-eyed moon")

κύκλωπος σελήνης : "of the round-eyed moon", GEN sg (NOM: κύκλωψ σελήνη).

πεύσῃ: "you will learn", verb 2nd sg fut ind mid doric contr, from πυνθάνομαι .

ἔργα περίφοιτα: "the revolving works" ACC neut pl.

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