Did the gods speak Greek?

Greek Homeric Greek and Early Greek Poetry
1

I’m reading book 14; the story of Hera seducing Zeus is a delightful interlude (I’ld almost say comic relief, but the gods are no laughing matter) to the grim battles of the preceding books. The dressing scene is lovely and a good reminder of how much vocabulary I still have to master and I chuckled at the (no doubt anachronistic) image of Zeus and Hera as two love sick teenagers outfoxing their parents:

ὡς δʼ ἴδεν, ὥς μιν ἔρως πυκινὰς φρένας ἀμφεκάλυψεν,
οἷον ὅτε πρῶτόν περ ἐμισγέσθην φιλότητι
εἰς εὐνὴν φοιτῶντε, φίλους λήθοντε τοκῆας.

These verses however made me wonder (Iliad 14, 289-291):

ἔνθʼ ἧστʼ ὄζοισιν πεπυκασμένος εἰλατίνοισιν
ὄρνιθι λιγυρῇ ἐναλίγκιος, ἥν τʼ ἐν ὄρεσσι
χαλκίδα κικλήσκουσι θεοί, ἄνδρες δὲ κύμινδιν.

It’s not the first time that gods and men appear to have different names for the same object. Is this restricted to a few names for animals and mountain tops etcetera, or is there reason to think the gods have a divine language of their own? And if that’s not the case, why the difference in names?

2

Clyde Pharr wrote that the names are preservations of earlier cults before they assimilated

3

ὡς δʼ ἴδεν, ὥς μιν ἔρως πυκινὰς φρένας ἀμφεκάλυψεν,

ut vidi, ut perii, ut me malus abstulit error..

This is definitely comic relief, like the Aphrodite/Ares affair in the Odyssey. It gets more comical, as Zeus insensitively tells Hera how he desires her as much as he desired a string of her mortal rivals whom Zeus seduced or raped.

4

Not as much as, more than. So she should feel flattered, no? :smiley:

When the gods are speaking amongst themselves they speak just the same way the Greeks do—and the Trojans too. Why they’re said to have different names for some things—well there are many theories, ancient as well as modern, but it seems to be a way of marking the gods as different from mortals. In each case there’s that gods:men opposition. But why these particular words is anyone’s guess. With the kumindis and the xalkis, they might just as well be the other way round. Did Homer make both of them up?

5

Yes, that’s a remarkable speech to say the least. According to Ameis it’s an interpolation though. Do modern commentators hold the same view?

6

I hope not. But the Alexandrian scholars Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus did.

EDIT: This was in response to Bart’s question directly above, not to the main question of the thread. :slight_smile:

7

I don’t think it’s anachronistic, I think it’s universal! :slight_smile: However, it get’s a bit odd when you think about who were Zeus’ and Hera’s parents.

The double names have intrigued me a lot too, but nothing I’ve read has quite satisfied me…

8

Men call him Homer, the gods, Zeus