Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wzw2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-01T00:07:56.242Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Politeness of Achilles: Off-Record Conversation Strategies in Homer and the Meaning of Kertomia*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2012

Michael Lloyd
Michael Lloyd
Affiliation:
University College Dublin
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines social interaction in Homer in the light of modern conversation analysis, especially Grice's theory of conversational implicature. Some notoriously problematic utterances are explained in terms of their ‘off-record’ significance. One particular off-record conversation strategy is characterized by Homer as kertomia, and this is discussed in detail. The article focusses on social problems at the end of Achilles' meeting with Priam in Iliad 24, and in particular on the much-discussed word ἐπικερτομέων (24.649).

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 124 , November 2004 , pp. 75 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 See the discussion by Griffin, J., Homer on Life and Death (Oxford 1980) 50–80Google Scholar, esp. 61–2.

2 Cf. Brown, R. and Gilman, A., ‘Politeness theory and Shakespeare's four major tragedies’, Language in Society 18 (1989) 159–212CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Sifianou, M., Politeness Phenomena in England and Greece. A Cross-Cultural Perspective (Oxford 1992)Google Scholar; Dickey, E., Greek Forms of Address (Oxford 1996) 30–42.Google Scholar

3 κέρτομος (‘mocking’, ‘delusive’) does not occur in Homer.

4 For discussion and further references, see Lorimer, H.L., Homer and the Monuments (London 1950) 415–16Google Scholar; West, S., A Commentary on Homer's Odyssey 1 (Oxford 1988)Google Scholar on Od. 3.399; Garvie, A.F., Homer Odyssey Books 6–8 (Cambridge 1994)Google Scholar on Od. 7.336.

5 Translations from the Iliad are taken, with minor adaptations, from the version by M. Hammond (Harmondsworth 1987).

6 E.g. Lorimer (n.4) 416: ‘Hospitality was extended to all strangers, with or without credentials, and the porch conceded a roof without giving admission … to the interior of the house.’

7 E.g. Richardson, N.J., The Iliad: A Commentary 6 (Cambridge 1993)Google Scholar on Il. 24.633–76: ‘Given Priam's age and status it could have seemed discourteous to make him sleep outside.’

8 Cf. Rutherford, R.B., Homer Odyssey Books 19 and 20 (Cambridge 1992)Google Scholar on Od. 20.1: ‘It is appropriate that Odysseus, at home but not recognised or accepted as master of the house, should occupy a “liminal” position.’

9 Macleod, C.W., Homer Iliad Book 24 (Cambridge 1982)Google Scholar on 649.

10 Jones, P.V., ‘Iliad 24.649: another solution’, CQ 39 (1989) 247–50CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 250.

11 See Macleod (n.9) on 448–56, 643–8.

12 These two scenes seem to envisage Achilles' tent as a less substantial structure than it is in Iliad 24. Cf. Hainsworth, J.B., The Iliad: A Commentary 3 (Cambridge 1993)CrossRefGoogle Scholar on Il. 9.185, 192.

13 Grice, H.P., ‘Logic and conversation’, in Cole, P. and Morgan, J. (eds), Syntax and Semantics 3: Speech Acts (New York 1975) 41–58Google Scholar (based on lectures given in 1967). Cf. Levinson, S.C., Pragmatics (Cambridge 1983) ch.3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

14 Levinson (n. 13) 104.

15 Brown, P. and Levinson, S.C., Politeness. Some Universals in Language Usage (Studies in Interactional Sociolinguistics 4; 2nd edn, Cambridge 1987; 1st edn, 1978) 211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

16 Martin, R.P., The Language of Heroes. Speech and Performance in the Iliad (Ithaca and London 1989) 40Google Scholar, observes that Calchas interprets Achilles' speech as ‘a specific kind of request’. Martin also remarks (33) that ‘Achilles … is good at hinting’ (comparing Il. 1.202–5, 19.20–7).

17 Cf. J. Latacz, Homers Ilias. Gesamtkommentar 1 (Munich and Leipzig 2000) on Il. 1.62–3: ‘die zweite Kategorie (Priester) ist grundsätzlich an feste Heiligtümer (Tempel) gebunden … und erscheint dementsprechend in der Ilias nur auf troianischer Seite’.

18 Translations from the Odyssey are taken, with minor adaptations, from the version by W.H. Shewring (Oxford 1980).

19 Eumaeus expresses off-record advice to Telemachus in the form of a question about his intentions (Od. 16.137–45). See Minchin, E., ‘Verbal behaviour in its social context: three question strategies in Homer's Odyssey’, CQ 52 (2002) 15–32, at 18–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar In Gricean terms, Eumaeus breaches the maxim of quantity by including detail about Laertes which is unnecessary to the ostensible meaning of his utterance.

20 Stanford, W.B., The Odyssey of Homer 2 (2nd edn, London 1965; 1st edn, 1948)Google Scholar, on Od. 15.65–6. It is open to question whether Telemachus' words at Od. 4.594–9 are forceful enough, but the fact is that he does not depart then.

21 Page, D.L., The Homeric Odyssey (Oxford 1955) 84.Google Scholar

22 E.g. Woodhouse, W.J., The Composition of Homer's Odyssey (Oxford 1930) 163Google Scholar; Kirk, G.S., The Songs of Homer (Cambridge 1962) 240–1Google Scholar; Thornton, A., People and Themes in Homer's Odyssey (London 1970) 73Google Scholar; Fenik, B., Studies in the Odyssey (Hermes Einzelschrift 30, Wiesbaden 1974) 236–9Google Scholar; Hoekstra, A., A Commentary on Homer's Odyssey 2 (Oxford 1989)Google Scholar on Od. 15.513–22.

23 Cf. Austin, N., ‘Telemachos polymechanos’, CSCA 2 (1969) 45–63, at 58–9Google Scholar; id., Archery at the Dark of the Moon (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London 1975) 190–1. Austin himself revives the view of Whitman, C.H., Homer and the Heroic Tradition (Cambridge, MA 1958) 341 n.13CrossRefGoogle Scholar, that Telemachus tries to solicit an omen by uttering the opposite of what he believes and hopes, but he admits that there are no parallels for such a practice.

24 Leaf, W., The Iliad (2nd edn, London 1900–1902) on 649.Google ScholarCf. Postlethwaite, N., ‘Akhilleus and Agamemnon: generalized reciprocity’, in Gill, C., Postlethwaite, N. and Seaford, R. (eds), Reciprocity in Ancient Greece (Oxford 1998) 93–104, at 102–3.Google Scholar Postlethwaite suggests ‘boasting his superiority [sc. over Agamemnon]’ for epikertomeôn, but fails to consider other examples of kertomia in Homer. See also, in the same volume, G. Zanker, ‘Beyond reciprocity: the Akhilleus–Priam scene in Iliad 24’, 73–92, at 85.

25 Willcock, M.M., The Iliad of Homer: Boob XIII–XXIV (London 1984) on 649.Google Scholar

26 E.g. Minchin, E., ‘The interpretation of a theme in oral epic: Iliad 24.559–70’, G&R 33 (1986) 11–19.Google Scholar

27 E.g. Taplin, O., Homeric Soundings. The Shaping of the Iliad (Oxford 1992) 269, 273Google Scholar; Martin (n.16) 144–5; Redfield, J.M., Nature and Culture in the Iliad. The Tragedy of Hector (Chicago and London 1975) 218Google Scholar; Rabel, R.J., Plot and Point of View in the Iliad (Ann Arbor 1997) 202.Google Scholar

28 Edwards, M.W., Homer Poet of the Iliad (Baltimore and London 1987) 312–13.Google Scholar

29 Hooker, J.T., ‘A residual problem in Iliad 24’, CQ 36 (1986) 32–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 35. Hooker's useful catalogue of κερτομ- words in Homer omits Od. 2.323 and 22.287.

30 Clay, J.S., ‘Iliad 24.649 and the semantics of ΚΕΡΤΟΜΩ’, CQ 49 (1999) 618–21, at 621.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

31 An ancient derivation of κερτομέω from κη̂ρ + τέμνω was revived by Jones (n.10), translating ‘pierce to the heart’, ‘cut to the quick’. Critics (e.g. Richardson (n.7) on Il. 24.649) observe that kertomia often has no such effect. Clarke, M.J., ‘“Heart-cutting talk”: Homeric κερτομέω and related words’, CQ 51 (2001) 329–38CrossRefGoogle Scholar, argues that τέμνω means ‘divide’ rather than ‘pierce’, and that division of the mental apparatus describes confusion or indecision. Kertomia will thus be ‘talk that is liable to temporarily confuse the person addressed’ (335). The weakness of this etymological approach is shown by the fact that few if any of the examples of kertomia in Homer seem to be ‘talk that is designed to cause confusion and uncertainty’ (336).

32 Kertomia is thus a species of irony, which typically involves an opposition between two levels of discourse or awareness. See Muecke, D.C., The Compass of Irony (London 1969) 19–20.Google Scholar Muecke's analysis of the techniques of ‘impersonal’ irony (67–86) contains much that is relevant to kertomia.

33 Rhetorical questions are formally insincere because they purport to seek information which the speaker in reality already possesses. Cf. Brown and Levinson (n.15) 223–5.

34 Cf. Hohendahl-Zoetelief, I.M., Manners in the Homeric Epic (Mnemosyne Supplement 63, Leiden 1980) 22–7.Google Scholar

35 Hooker (n.29) 33.

36 Cf. Rutherford (n.8) on Od. 20.292–5.

37 Hector implicitly characterizes a one-line threat by Achilles as kertomia (Ilx. 20.433), where the assonance ἆσσον … θᾶσσον suggests ‘grim sarcasm’ (Macleod (n.9) 51).

38 See generally Dickie, M., ‘Phaeacian athletes’, PLLS 4 (1983) 237–76, at 246–51Google Scholar; Slater, W.J., ‘Sympotic ethics in the Odyssey’, in Murray, O. (ed.), Sympotica. A Symposium on the Symposion (Oxford 1990) 213–20, at 217–19.Google Scholar

39 ‘The plur. [κελεύετε] either includes Euryalus, whose words Odysseus may then be assumed to have heard …, or is addressed to all the young men, of whom he takes Laodamas to be merely the spokesman’ (Garvie (n.4) on Od. 8.153).

40 E.g. Jones (n.10) 247; Garvie (n.4) on Od. 8.133–57, 145, 146; Clay (n.30) 619. Better is Hainsworth, J.B., A Commentary on Homer's Odyssey 1 (Oxford 1988)Google Scholar on Od. 8.145: ‘The offence lies in the challenge to a guest, especially to a guest in Odysseus' condition.’

41 Cf. Pelliccia, H.N., Mind, Body, and Speech in Homer and Pindar (Hypomnemata 107, Göttingen 1995) 169–70, 179–80, 270–1CrossRefGoogle Scholar; id., ‘The interpretation of Iliad 6.145–9 and the sympotic contribution to rhetoric’, Colby Quarterly 38 (2002) 197–230, at 203 n.15, 214 n.45.

42 Clay (n.30) 620 sees a reference to Athena's earlier attempt to elicit a reaction from Odysseus (248–9), but his complaint here is that she is continuing to deceive him, long after the game of concealed identities is over.

43 Cf. generally Heubeck, A., ‘Zwei homerische πεῖραι (ω 205 ff.-B 53 ff.)’, Živa Antika 31 (1981) 73–83.Google Scholar

44 On the boys' game, see Kakridis, J.T., Homer Revisited (Lund 1971) 138–40Google Scholar; Janko, R., The Iliad: A Commentary 4 (Cambridge 1992)Google Scholar on Il. 16.259–65. For kertomia meaning almost ‘practical joke’ see Soph. Phil. 1235–6; Eur. Cyc. 687; Alc. 1125; Hel. 619; IA 849.

45 See Pelliccia (n.41) 1995: 168 on the ‘self-consciously artificial and flamboyant’ language in Patroclus' taunt. Pelliccia (n.41) 2002 discusses the sympotic connotations of the εἰκάςειν (comparison) which Patroclus employs here (cf. Od. 18.353–5 for another example in kertomia).

46 Clay (n.30) 619 and n.7.

47 Cf. Od. 17.217–32, 248–53; Russo, J., A Commentary on Homer's Odyssey 3 (Oxford 1992)Google Scholar on Od. 17.231–2.

48 Cf. Arend, W., Die typischen Scenen bei Homer (Berlin 1933) 101–5Google Scholar; Reece, S., The Stranger's Welcome. Oral Theory and the Aesthetics of the Homeric Hospitality Scene (Ann Arbor 1993) 31–2, 67–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

49 Some scholars, however, simply ignore the implications of epikertomeôn. One JHS reader commented that it is ‘little more than a formulaic tag, not to be pressed’.

50 On giving reasons as a politeness strategy, see Brown and Levinson (n.15) 128–9; Minchin (n.19) 18 n.19. For other polite formulae in this scene, see Macleod (n.9) on 661, 669.

51 Cf. Macleod (n.9) on 655: ‘If Priam really were seen, something worse than “a delay in the release of the corpse” would happen.’ More explicit is Clay (n.30) 619 n.8: ‘even Hermes does not say the obvious: that Priam will be killed if found in the Greek camp’.

52 Macleod (n.9) on 649.

53 Trans. M.L. West (Oxford 1988). West translates φάτο κερτομέων (545) as ‘chided’. In his commentary (Oxford 1966) he offers ‘carping’ for κερτομέων, and comments ‘not in jest but in displeasure’.