The Odyssey: 40 words to know before you read it
The 40 words Homer uses again and again in The Odyssey that are outside the 4,000 most common in English. Learn them first and the opening chapters read much more easily. Each comes with its pronunciation and a sentence from the book.
suitor/ˈsutɝ/230× in the book
There she found the lordly suitors seated on hides of the oxen which they had killed and eaten, and playing draughts in front of the house.
till/ˈtɪɫ/155× in the book
… I know you want to be getting on with your voyage, but stay a little longer till you have taken a bath and refreshed yourself.
sail/ˈseɪɫ/86× in the book
You are indeed wonderfully like him about the head and eyes, for we were close friends before he set sail for Troy where the flower of all the Argives went also.
sheep/ˈʃip/68× in the book
… and lie in two halves, the one looking West and the other East.[1] He had gone there to accept a hecatomb of sheep and oxen, and was enjoying himself at his festival …
spear/ˈspɪɹ/65× in the book
He took her right hand in his own, and bade her give him her spear.
maid/ˈmeɪd/63× in the book
A maid servant then brought them water in a beautiful golden ewer and poured it into a silver basin for them to wash their hands, and she drew a clean table beside them.
cloister/ˈkɫɔɪstɝ/60× in the book
When she reached the suitors she stood by one of the bearing posts that supported the roof of the cloisters[8] with a staid maiden on either side of her.
swineherd59× in the book
They thought he was only away somewhere on the farms, and was with the sheep, or with the swineherd; so Antinous said, “When did he go?
cloak/ˈkɫoʊk/57× in the book
Do you think I am so poor and short of clothes, or that I have so few cloaks and as to be unable to find comfortable beds both for myself and for my guests?
whereon55× in the book
“This was what she said, and we assented; whereon we could see her working on her great web all day long, but at night she would unpick the stitches again by torchlight.
goddess/ˈɡɑdəs/53× in the book
… though he was longing to return to his wife and country, was detained by the goddess Calypso, who had got him into a large cave and wanted to marry him.
immortal/ˌɪˈmɔɹtəɫ/46× in the book
How can I forget Ulysses than whom there is no more capable man on earth, nor more liberal in his offerings to the immortal gods that live in heaven?
sorrow/ˈsɑɹoʊ/45× in the book
“My friend,” answered Nestor, “you recall a time of much sorrow to my mind, for the brave Achaeans suffered much both at sea …
brave/ˈbɹeɪv/40× in the book
He was sitting moodily among the suitors thinking about his brave father, and how he would send them flying out of the house …
goat/ˈɡoʊt/40× in the book
… sheep, and fat goats for their banquets, and never giving so much as a thought to the quantity of wine they drink.
sword/ˈsɔɹd/40× in the book
He bound his sandals on to his comely feet, girded his sword about his shoulder, and left his room looking like an immortal god.
sacrifice/ˈsækɹəˌfaɪs/38× in the book
You, sir, take no heed of this, and yet when Ulysses was before Troy did he not propitiate you with many a burnt sacrifice?
feast/ˈfist/37× in the book
But tell me, and tell me true, what is the meaning of all this feasting, and who are these people?
weep/ˈwip/36× in the book
She held a veil, moreover, before her face, and was weeping bitterly.
supper/ˈsəpɝ/36× in the book
… of course, and show the strangers in that they may have supper; you and I have staid often enough at other people’s houses before we got back here …
arrow/ˈæɹoʊ/36× in the book
He was then coming from Ephyra, where he had been to beg poison for his arrows from Ilus, son of Mermerus.
voyage/ˈvɔɪədʒ/35× in the book
I have come here with my ship and crew, on a voyage to men of a foreign tongue being bound for Temesa[4] with a cargo of iron, and I shall bring back copper.
armour/ˈɑɹmɝ/33× in the book
… and spread the white sails aloft, while their fine servants brought them their armour.
noble/ˈnoʊbəɫ/32× in the book
The Achaeans will find you in everything—a ship and a picked crew to boot—so that you can set sail for Pylos at once and get news of your noble father.”
wicked/ˈwɪkəd/30× in the book
I would obey you, but the Achaeans, and more particularly the wicked suitors, are hindering me that I cannot do so.”
bronze/ˈbɹɑnz/29× in the book
But Telemachus went down into the lofty and spacious store-room where his father’s treasure of gold and bronze lay heaped up upon the floor, and where the linen and spare clothes were kept in open chests.
bard/ˈbɑɹd/27× in the book
“Mother,” answered Telemachus, “let the bard sing what he has a mind to; bards do not make the ills they sing of …
harbour/ˈhɑɹbɝ/26× in the book
… it lies over yonder off the open country away from the town, in the harbour Rheithron[5] under the wooded mountain Neritum.[6] Our fathers were friends before us, as old Laertes will tell you …
mast/ˈmæst/26× in the book
They set the mast in its socket in the cross plank, raised it …
perish/ˈpɛɹɪʃ/26× in the book
… but do what he might he could not save his men, for they perished through their own sheer folly in eating the cattle of the Sun-god Hyperion; so the god prevented them from ever reaching home.
presently/ˈpɹɛzəntɫi/26× in the book
No matter how far out of the world you live, you will have heard of Agamemnon and the bad end he came to at the hands of Aegisthus—and a fearful reckoning did Aegisthus presently pay.
grieve/ˈɡɹiv/25× in the book
I often grieve, as I sit here in my house, for one and all of them.
mortal/ˈmɔɹtəɫ/25× in the book
… but the gods in their displeasure have willed it otherwise, and have hidden him away more closely than mortal man was ever yet hidden.
fetch/ˈfɛtʃ/25× in the book
… and offered them many good things of what there was in the house, the carver fetched them plates of all manner of meats and set cups of gold by their side, and a manservant brought them wine and poured it out for them.
spite/ˈspaɪt/25× in the book
… he let him get safe out of the water, and in spite of all Minerva’s hatred he would have escaped death, if he had not ruined himself by boasting.
bless/ˈbɫɛs/25× in the book
One can soon see when a man is son to one whom heaven has blessed both as regards wife and offspring—and it has blessed Nestor from first to last all his days, giving him a green old age in his own house …
mischief/ˈmɪstʃəf/24× in the book
“Hear me, men of Ithaca, and I speak more particularly to the suitors, for I see mischief brewing for them.
escort/ˈɛskɔɹt/23× in the book
… you can have horses, and here are my sons who can escort you to Lacedaemon where Menelaus lives.
distress/dɪˈstɹɛs/23× in the book
Our ambuscade would have been intolerable, for the stench of the fishy seals was most distressing[45]—who would go to bed with a sea monster if he could help it?—but here, too …
flock/ˈfɫɑk/22× in the book
With these words she made them all want to come, and they flocked to the assembly till seats and standing room were alike crowded.
Pronunciation: ipa-dict (MIT), from Wiktionary.
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