Eumaeus

Homer, Odyssey 14.55 (tr. Daniel Mendelsohn): You spoke to him then in reply, Eúmaios my swineherd: τὸν δ᾽ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφης, Εὔμαιε συβῶτα· The line, or something very like it, occurs 15 times in the Odyssey (according to commentators), and Mendelsohn always translates "my swineherd." The possessive pronoun "my" doesn't occur in the Greek, and I don't understand the reason for its intrusive presence in the English translation. It smacks of the colloquial "my man," and sounds out of place to me. Cf. Richmond Lattimore's rendering: Then, O swineherd Eumaios, you said to him in answer: W.B. Stanford ad loc.: Some editors follow Eustathius' suggestion that it is a mark of the poet's special affection for Eumaeus (cp. scholium on Il. 16, 787). This, however, is highly uncharacteristic of H.'s very impersonal style. Hayman remarks that it may be a vestige of a primitive ballad-singer's phrase. Related posts: No Accounting for Taste A Puzzle Stopper Significant Searfaring Names…