Homer's Winged Words ─ The Evolution of Early Greek Epic Diction in the Light of Oral Theory

Philologists know that language is a living thing, constantly evolving. Reece (classics, Saint Olaf's College) looks at the many words in the Homeric epics that seem to have no connection to ancient Greek or any other known language and applies theories of language evolution to them. He begins by giving examples in English whereby unfamiliar words or phrases are rearranged in the mind to make sense, such as the classic "Gladly, the cross-eyed bear" for "Gladly the cross I'd bear". In transmitting oral traditions often down many generations, the possibility of archaic or foreign words being altered is high. Reece concentrates on junctural metanalysis, the ways in which the beginnings or endings of words are dropped or elided with surrounding words to create a new pronunciation. Tracing words back over more than 2,500 years of changes is a daunting task but one that he takes up with the determination of a bloodhound. the result is a compelling argument for the original meanings of several problematic words in Homer. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Steve Reece, Ph.D. (1990) in Classics, University of California, Los Angeles, is Professor of Classics at Saint Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. He has published widely on Homeric studies, New Testament studies, comparative oral traditions, historical linguistics, and pedagogy.