“the formal, obsequious ὦ is usually omitted by Herodotus whenever an inferior is addressed by a superior: cf. ὦ Κροῖσε at 32,1, as against the condescending Κροῖσε here”.
– Commentary on Herodotus Books I-IV, p. 143.
“Chez Homère, l’emploi de la particule est moins fréquent qu’en attique (et plus fréquent dans l’Odyssée que dans l’Iliade). Tandis que, chez Platon, ὦ est devenu la formule de politesse banale, l’usage de la particule répond chez Homère à une intention: l’interjection exprime souvent un ton assez vif et brusque. Au contraire, on n’emploie pas ὦ en principe lorsqu’un homme s’adresse à une divinité ou un inférieur un supérieur, une femme à son mari, un serviteur à son maître.”
– Chantraine, Grammaire homérique, tome 2, p. 37. (in short: in Homer, according to Chantraine, ὦ is used when a superior addresses an inferior, and not (usually) the other way round, and it corresponds to a lively and abrupt style.)
So according to these authors, the meaning of ὦ is pretty much opposite in Homer and Herodotus. Should I believe both, one of the two or neither? For me, what Chantraine says seems to hold pretty well for Homer, but I don’t know if anyone else shares this view. Any opinions?
But the meaning is the same, what is different is the extra layer that marks off social differences and that is the kind of thing that I would expect to be most likely to change.
When in I was in Croatia it was clear to me that the vocative is dying out. My landlady always addressed me as Dejvide - that is to say in the vocative. When I addressed a young friend Katrina in the vocative as Katrino the reaction was an almost shocked “What did you say?” That is the space of two generations, far less than between Homer and Herodotus.
As I understand it, Chantraine is suggesting that the particle has a meaning not completely different from the yo above (among certain speakers at least!). I find funny that it should have evolved into a much more polite form of address - if we believe these commentators, which I’m not sure yet we should do.