1

Scott Brantner

Homer’s Phaeacians and Phoenician Bi-lingual Onomastica

In The Raft of Odysseus Carol Dougherty makes a compelling argument for the literary

juxtaposition of the Phaeacians and the Phoenicians as representatives of the opposing social

mores associated with Near-Eastern traders in Homer’s Odyssey. She demonstrates, through an

examination of various similarities and differences between the two sea-faring nations, that the

idealized Phaeacians “work together with the demonized Phoenicians to articulate the range of

possible modes of exchange available in the world of the Odyssey.”1 This paper seeks to expand

upon one particular element of Dougherty’s assertions. The onomastic qualities of Phaeacian

personal names in book 6-8 of the Odyssey further indicate that the bard envisioned the

Phaeacians as a fantastical clone of the real-world Phoenicians. Dougherty already makes this

inference in the book cited above, but only goes so far as to mention the etymological association

most Phaeacian names have with all things nautical, the traditional domain of the Phoenicians. 2

She draws no connection between Phaeacian names and the Phoenicians, beyond the obvious

affinity for ships. Nor does she give any explanation for Phaeacian names like Λαοδάμας or

Ἀλκίνοος, which are not sailing-oriented. A brief examination of research on Semitic onomasia,

specifically those which appear epigraphically and in a bilingual context, fills the gaps in

Dougherty’s argument while furnishing further evidence supporting a metaphorical link between

the Phaeacians and the Phoenicians.

1
Carol Dougherty, The Raft of Odysseus: The Ethnographic Imagination of Homer's Odyssey (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2001), 120.
2
ibid., 114.
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Before we can draw a connection between Phaeacian and Phoenician onomasia, it will

serve our purposes to highlight what differentiates Phaeacian names from Greek ones in the

Homeric epics. One of the most striking features of Phaeacian names is the transparency of their

meaning. The Phaeacian names shown below have a firm basis in Homeric Greek and their

significance would have been immediately obvious to the bard’s audience.

Ἀλκίνοος : ἀλκί (dat. ἀλκή) “courage, spirit” + νόος “mind” = “mighty-mind”3

Ναυσικάα : ναυσί (dat. pl. ναῦς) “ship” + κάᾳ (3rd sg. pres. κάω) “to burn” = “she
sets fire to the ships”4

Λαοδάμας : λάον (acc. λάος) “people, folk” + δάμασε (3rd sg. aor. δαμάζω) “to
kill, slay” = “he has killed people”5

Ἀμφίαλος : ἀμφί “around, on both sides” + ἃλς “sea” = “sea-girted”6

Εὐρύαλος : εὐρύς “wide, spacious” + ἃλς “sea” = “wide-sea”7

Πολύνηος : πολύς “great, many” + νηῦς “ship” = “huge-ship”8

Κλυτόνηος : κλυτός “excellent, splendid” + νηῦς “ship” = “fancy-ship”9

These examples stand in contrast to the names Homer gives to most Greek characters. Although

some significance may be attached to such names through a close inspection of etymology, or

through puns in the text itself, the meanings of names like Ὀδυσσεύς, Πηνελόπη, Ἀχιλλεύς, and

Πρίαμος are far less transparent than those of their Phaeacian counterparts.10 The difference is

the same as that between current names like John, Rebecca, or Richard, and Sky, Charity, or

3
Cunliffe, s.v. ἀλκή 2, s.v. νόος 1.
4
LSJ, s.v. ναῦς, s.v. κάω.
5
Cunliffe, s.v. λάος 1, s.v. δαμάζω 6.
6
ibid., s.v. ἀμφί I.1.a, s.v. ἃλς.
7
ibid., s.v. εὐρύς 1.a, s.v. ἃλς.
8
ibid., s.v. πολλός 2, s.v. νηῦς.
9
ibid., s.v. κλυτός 3, s.v. νηῦς.
10
BNP, s.v. Odysseus, s.v. Penelope, s.v. Achilles, s.v. Priamus. One notable exception is the name Τηλέμαχος, which
clearly means “far-fighter.” See ibid., s.v. Telemachus. For Odysseus specifically, see Norman Austin, “Name Magic
in the ʿOdyssey,ʾ” California Studies in Classical Antiquity 5 (1972): 1-3.
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Destiny. This transparency of meaning is the key element which links Phaeacian onomasia to

Semitic epigraphy as far back as the Bronze Age.

As O’Connor writes in the Journal of the American Oriental Society, “Unlike most

personal names in the European realm, Semitic names are linguistically transparent, i.e., their

meaning is evident since they are formed from ordinary words of the language.”11 This trait,

shared by Homer’s Phaeacians, has a real-world basis in Semitic onomasia. Phoenicians and

other Semitic Bronze Age cultures operated in a world of multiple languages. While they were

not the only Near-East civilization to meet the challenge of linguistic diversity, the transparent

meaning of their names gave Semitic speakers in the ancient Mediterranean multiple options for

transitioning those names into the languages of the people with whom they came into contact,

and vice versa. Oftentimes the result was that the person or place ended up with two names: one

Semitic name, and one name directly translated from the Semitic into a second language. This

practice can be observed in place-names which are as old or older than the Homeric epics. For

example, Pliny notes that an island off the coast of Sardinia was called both Ἱέρακον νῆσος and

Enosim, which comes from the Phoenician ʾInêṣîm. Both names, though phonologically

different, translate to “Hawk Island,” and both names are attributed to the island in Greek and

Punic inscriptions found there.12 Were this the only sort of evidence available to us, we might

still be unable to say with any certainty whether Phaeacian name transparency is based off of

Phoenician name transparency. But the epigraphic record contains several examples of

Phoenician names in a bilingual context which follow the same pattern of dual-naming by direct

translation.

11
M. O’Connor, “The Onomastic Evidence for Bronze-Age West Semitic,” Journal of the American Oriental Society
124, no. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 2004): 446.
12
Michael C. Astour, “Greek Names in the Semitic World and Semitic Names in the Greek World,” Journal of Near
Eastern Studies 23, no. 3 (Jul., 1964): 195-6.
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Indeed, one document from the ancient Amorite city of Emar describes a woman who

went by both the Akkadian (Semitic) name Raindu and the Hurrian (non-Semitic) name Tatašše.

Both names translate to “beloved.”13 When we examine other epigraphic sources, we find the

same pattern emerging in areas where Phoenicians and external cultures converged. Name lists

preserved from Bronze Age Babylonian sites, written in cuneiform, are particularly relevant.

This is because cuneiform could be written either syllabographically, where each symbol

represents a syllable, or logographically, where each symbol represents a whole word. Many of

these records contain a Semitic name written in syllabograms, or a combination of syllabograms

and logorams. The same name then occurs elsewhere, written using only logograms. These

onomastic variants concretely demonstrate how scribes chose to represent the transparent

meaning of Semitic names in different languages.14 Below are a few West Semitic examples

taken from cuneiform records found in Ur, Mari, Ugarit, and Emar.15

Syllabographic/Mixed Logographic
West Semitic Cuneiform Cuneiform English

Rabi-ʾIlu ra-bi-DINGIR ᴵGAL-DINGIR ʾIlu is great

ʿAbdi-Aṯtarti ᴵab-di-aš-ta-<ar>-ti ᴵÌR-ᵈINNIN slave of Aṯtarti

Baʿlu-mahar ᴵᵈIŠKUR-me-ḫér ᴵᵈIŠKUR-UR.SAG Baʿlu is a warrior

Ṯipṭi-ī-Baʿlu ᴵši-ip-ṭì/ṭi₄-ᵈIŠKUR ᴵDI.KUD-ᵈIŠKUR Baʿlu is (the/my)

judgment

If Semitic speaking people and the scribes who recorded their names in cuneiform sometimes

transferred a Phoenician name’s meaning directly into another language, there is no reason to

suspect that the Phoenician traders who came into contact with the Greek world did not do the

same. Thus, a Phaeacian name like Ἀλκίνοος, or “mighty-mind,” takes on new significance when

13
O’Connor, 447.
14
ibid., 448.
15
ibid., 440, 451-2.
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we view its transparent meaning as a play on the transparency exhibited by Phoenician names in

the real world in which Homer’s audience lived.

A similar interaction between Semitic names and Greek text are harder to track down,

firstly due to the paucity of Bronze Age Greek epigraphy, secondly due to the comparatively late

emergence of the Greek alphabet. Nevertheless, there exist some later examples which show the

direct translation of Semitic names into Greek. At sites like Athens and Piraeus, where

Phoenician traders regularly came into contact with Greeks, we find inscriptions listing one name

in Phoenician syllabograms, and the same name rendered into Greek, though it must be admitted

that purely literal translations from Phoenician to alphabetic Greek are comparatively rare in the

later epigraphic record.16 One example, an individual whose Phoenician name is inscribed

BNḤDŠ, also appears as Νουμήνιος. Both names carry the meaning “son of the new moon.”17

Another inscription from the Hellenistic era bears the rather odd name, Δορκάς, or “deer.” The

same name is attested to in Aramaic, appearing as Ṭabyәtāʾ, “deer.”18 Names such as these fall

into the category of Semitic names which are circumstantial. That is to say, some Semitic names

appear to have been given at birth or to have been changed later in life to reflect the

circumstances of the individual.19 This group furnishes such interesting names as Halilum

“praise,” Yibaśśir “he spoke good news,” Qaraʾ-śumīya “he called my name,” and Śaʾilatum

“requested, borrowed.”20

Given the evidence before us it is no longer seems so implausible that an individual from

a sea-faring people similar to the Phoenicians should have a name like “fancy-ship,” or “he has

16
Maria Giulia Amadasi Guzzo and Corinne Bonnet, “Anthroponymes phéniciens et anthroponymes grecs:
remarques sur leurs correspondances,” Studi Epigrafici e Linguistici sul Vicino Oriente antico 8 (1991): 6.
17
ibid., 5-6.
18
O’Connor, 447.
19
ibid., 455-8; These are in contrast to the cuneiform names shown above, which necessarily contained a reference
to a specific divinity.
20
ibid., 456.
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killed people.” Even the one passage in the Odyssey where Homer mentions by name a

Phoenician, rather than a Phaeacian, contains the same pattern of onomastic transparency. When

Eumaeus the swineherd tells Odysseus the tale of how the betrayal of a female slave led to his

capture and sale by a troupe of greedy Phoenicians, he puts the following words into the slave’s

mouth:

ἐκ μὲν Σιδῶνος πολυχάλκου εὔχομαι εἶναι, κούρη δ᾽ εἴμ᾽ Ἀρύβαντος ἐγὼ ῥυδὸν ἀφνειοῖο.

I profess that I am from bronze-rich Sidon, and I am the daughter of Arybas, on whom riches
flowed.21

As with his Phaeacians, Homer gives us a Phoenician name whose meaning is clearly visible:

Ἀρύβας : ἀρύει (3rd sg. pres. ἀρύω) “to draw from [water, river]” + βάς (nom.
aor. pple. βαίνω) “to board [a ship]” = “having boarded [a ship] he
draws from [the river]”22

This one example of a Phoenician name also bears a transparent meaning which betrays an

obvious allusion to the context in which it appears. The name Ἀρύβας is essentially a play on the

phrase which follows, ῥυδὸν ἀφνειοῖο.23 The man “on whom riches flowed” is the same who

“having boarded [a ship], draws from” the flow of riches.

An overview on research in Semitic epigraphy demonstrates that the peculiarity of

Phaeacian names is not entirely peculiar, especially if we accept Dougherty’s conclusion that the

Phaeacians exist as an idealized mirror of the Phoenicians.24 Perhaps the most obvious difference

between the fictional Phaeacians and the real Phoenicians is the complete lack of nautically-

themed names on the part of the Semitic epigraphic record. However, this fact need not trouble

the argument posed here. As Dougherty writes, “I do not mean to suggest that Phaeacia really

was Phoenicia. Rather, I want to argue for recognizing Phaeacia as a historically informed

21
Hom. Od. 15.426-7; The slave herself is never named.
22
Cunliffe, s.v. ἀρύω; s.v. βαίνω I.5.
23
ibid., s.v. ῥυδόν.
24
Dougherty, 115.
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imaginary site in which our reading… is enriched by allusions to a contemporary [contact]

between Greece and the Near East.”25 The characteristics of Phaeacian onomasia are undoubtedly

intended to do more than simply inform Homer’s audience how much the Phaeacians love their

ships. They refer to the linguistic realities of contact between Semitic traders and Greeks in the

distant past. Phoenicians who regularly came into contact with Greeks probably came to identify

themselves by a direct translation of their name into Greek, as they had already done in

Babylonia. This practice may have left an impression on the Greeks, one which found its way

into the Odyssey’s rendition of the idealized Phaeacians. Conclusive evidence, as is so often the

case, evades our effort to make a stronger assertion. Nonetheless, when we examine the

onomastic remnants of Semitic languages in the Bronze Age and beyond, distinct patterns

emerge which match the fantasy of the Homer’s poem and were very likely grounded in the

reality of its listeners.

25
ibid., 108.
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Bibliography

Amadasi Guzzo, Maria Giulia, and Corinne Bonnet. “Anthroponymes phéniciens et

anthroponymes grecs: remarques sur leurs correspondances.” Studi Epigrafici e
Linguistici sul Vicino Oriente Antico 8 (1991): 1-21.

Astour, Michael C. “Greek Names in the Semitic World and Semitic Names in the Greek
World.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 23, no. 3 (Jul., 1964): 193-201.

Cancik, Hubert, Helmuth Schneider, Christine F Salazar, and David E Orton. Brill's New Pauly
: encyclopaedia of the ancient world. Boston: Brill, 2010.

Cunliffe, Richard John. A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect. Norman, OK: University of
Oklahoma Press, 1963.

Dougherty, Carol. The Raft of Odysseus: The Ethnographic Imagination of Homer's Odyssey.
New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Liddell, Henry George, Robert Scott, Henry Stuart Jones, and Roderick McKenzie. An
Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889.

O’Connor, M. “The Onomastic Evidence for Bronze-Age West Semitic.” Journal of the
American Oriental Society 124, no. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 2004): 439-470.