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[259] The apodosis here, as in 5.212 sqq., virtually consists of a whole conditional sentence, a second condition occurring to the mind of the speaker as he rhetorically expands the simple “λαβών σε ἀποδύσω” which would form the logical continuation. Telemachos is mentioned in the Il. only here and 4.354, q.v., in an equally curious phrase. “οὐχ ἑαυτῶι νῦν ἀρᾶται, ἀλλὰ τῶι παιδί. καὶ ἔστιν ἡ μὲν πρώτη κατάρα κατὰ τοῦ Ὀδυσσέως, ἡ δὲ δευτέρα κατὰ τοῦ Τηλεμάχου: εἰ γὰρ ἀπόλοιτο ὁ παῖς, οὐκέτι πατήρ ἐστιν Ὀδυσσεύς” (Schol. A). It is possible that the origin of the expression may be more recondite, and lie in the strange but wide-spread use among savages of ‘paedonymics’ instead of patronymics. E.g. ‘In Australia when a man's eldest child is named the father takes the name of the child, Kadlitpinna the father of Kadli; the mother is called Kadlingangki, or mother of Kadli, from ngangki a female or woman. This custom seems very general throughout the continent. In America we find the same habit .. In Sumatra the father in many parts of the country is distinguished by the name of his first child, and loses, in this acquired, his own proper name .. The women never change the name given them at the time of their birth; yet frequently they are called through courtesy, from their eldest child, “Ma si ano,” the mother of such an one; but rather as a polite description than a name.’ — Lubbock Origin of Civilization p. 358. The same is the case among the Kaffirs (Theale Kaffir Folk-Lore p. 117). Odysseus thus means, ‘may I lose my proudest title.’ “Ἀλθαία Μελεαγρίς” (Ibycus, fr. 14) is another instance of a paedonymic (quoted in Geddes Prob. of Hom. Poems p. 84 n. 5), but I am not aware of materials sufficient to prove that the custom was ever prevalent in Greece; or that there are any relics there of the savage's reluctance, for fear of magic, to reveal his real name, with which it is not improbably connected.

The Iliad, edited, with apparatus criticus, prolegomena, notes, and appendices. Walter Leaf. London. Macmillan. 1900.

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