I hope you wouldn’t mind doing name translations more often from time to time since I’m assuming it takes a little while to complete those lists. I’d love to see ones for the Odyssey monsters, other suitors, and maybe even some of the more underrated warriors from the Trojan War like Pandarus and Cebriones. Apologies if I’m asking for too much, but I do love etymology and Homer!
You are very kind and thanks for understanding but yes it seems these lists have become very popular these days hahaha. I am so happy at how fast and well this previous answer of mine spread!
💬 24 🔁 48 ❤️ 95 · Some of the Greeks: · What are the meanings behind the names of the main Iliad and Odyssey characters? Just curious.
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But sure I could do that! I will try at least to deliver! Hahaha So here goes:
Odyssey Monsters:
Scylla/Skylla-> The Shredder, The One Who Tears Apart, The Mangler
Coming most likely from the ancient verb σκύλλω which means "to tear to shreds" or "to rend" or "to mangle"
(This verb probably gave the modern day name to the "dog" σκύλος from the fact that the canine's teeth and jaws tear apart flesh and also the modern day σκύλα means "female dog" or more fittingly "bitch" as an insult too the same way as in english. I suppose it also helps that Scylla was said to make puppy sounds to lure her prey)
Charybdis-> The One who is Agape and Spits Out
Although the meaning is not 100% certain it seems to come from the verbs χαίω "to be agape", "to be open" and βδέω "to throw up" , "to belch"
Sirens -> The Searing Hot Ones, The Blinding Bright Ones
From the word σειρός which means "scortching hot" and "bright"
(As per my other analysis you can see here Sirens represent the dangerous knowledge that consumes and kills you if you accquire it)
Cyclops -> Round-Eyed
From the Greek κύκλος "circle" and ὄψ "eye"
As per the name Πολύφημος Polyphemus his name means "The One Much Sung About" or "The One with Much Fame" from Greek πολύς "much" or "many" and φῆμις "speech", "talk" "fame"
Laestrygonians -> The Skin Harvesters
Once again not totally clear definition but could be coming from the words λαισήϊον "raw skin with hairs still on" and the verb τρυγάω-ῶ "to gather" or better "to harvest"
Suitors:
So I would assume the Homeric suitors because I totally am not to go through all the list of the hundreds of names suggested by Apollodorous hahahahaha So apart from Antinous, Eurymachus and Amphinomus, Homer names 12 names more (I have made another answer you can see here)
Leiodes -> Smooth-Like, Even-Like
Coming probably from the adjective λεῖος which means "smooth" or "even" while the epithema -δης on occasion means "resembling"
Eurydamas -> The Tamer of Many
From the word εὐρύς which means "wide" or "plenty" and probably the verb δαμάζω which stands for "to tame" or at times "to break" (in the essence of taming)
Le(i)ocritus -> The One Of The Smooth Decision, Smoothly Judged, Even Judge, Smoothly Chosen, Evenly Judged
Possibly from the word λεῖος aka "smooth" or "even" and the verb κρίνω aka "to judge", "to decide" and therefore the word κριτός "the one judged" or "the one chosen"
Agelaus -> The Leader of People
From the verb ἄγω "to lead" and λαός "people"
Amphimedon -> The One of Two Thoughts, Double-Thinker
I had to take a wild guess for this one since the meaning is not perfectly clear. I would estimate comes from the word αμφί "both of two things" or "two things" or "two sides" and the verb μένδομαι "to think" or "to be mindful"
Elatus -> Metal One, Armored One, Fir Tree
Possibly coming from ἐλατός aka "made out of metal"
Same word is used in modern Greek to speak on the fir tree
Eurynomus -> Of Wide Share, Much Distributing
Probably emanating from εὐρύς which means "wide" or "plenty" and νέμω aka "to share" or "to distribute"
Euryades -> Widedly Sung, Much Praised
Once again I had to take a very wild guess because the second part could derive from words that mean "pleasant" or "hated" haha but I think this fits better. coming from εὐρύς "wide" or "plenty" and ᾁδω "to sing" or "to chant"
if it comes from the word ἡδύς aka "pleasant" then his name could be "The One of Many Pleasures" or "Much Pleased"
Demoptolemous -> Warrior Of The People
From the ancient word δήμος aka "people" (in the political essence aka a mass of citizens of a place) and the word πτόλεμος which is an alternative of πόλεμος aka "war"
Peisander -> The Persuader Of Men
From Greek πεῖσις "persuasion" or "obedience" (coming from the verb πείθω "to persuade") and άνδρας "man"
Polybus -> The One With Many Oxen
Most likely from the word πολύς "many" or "much" or "plenty" βοῦς "ox"
Ctesippus -> The One Who Possesses Horses, The One Who Acquired Horses
From Greek κτάομαι-ῶ μαι "to acquire" or "to possess" and ἵππος "horse"
Now for the two names
Pandarus -> Of All Pelts
From Greek πας aka "everyone" or "all" and probably δέρας "fleece" or "pelt"
Cebriones -> The One From Cebrenia
Probably indicating his city or area of origin, named after the river god Cebren (Κεβρήν)
I am not sure what other "underrated warriors" I can include here so if you have something specific in mind I can see what I can do. For example I remember
Hyppothous -> "Fast Horse" or "The One With Fast Horses"
from the word Ἱππος "horse" and θοος "fast"
As always I hope this helps! I am not of course 100% accurate but I think this is a decent attempt
hered the designs for most of the main characters!! I will not be editing the list but if I do notice someone has a major role and they aren't on the list I'll probably give them their own little thing. All that's left now is to read, annoate, and draw the comic!! This is going to take a long time so you gonna have to be patient sorry!!!
Okay I'm not gonna look forward to all the tags on this post.. gonna get started on that now see ya!!
(also for anyone wondering Icarus and Pandora will be semi telling the story. Ik they aren't in the original)
