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Formulas
difficult if only by contrast to say what is new (see 10.498^). The evolution
of culture and language makes them become obsolete, yet they are hard to
replace (see §xvii). They are the right phrase in one context, but override
a precise choice of language in another, so as to give a sense that is approximate
(9.255m), or even inappropriate (11.16111.). Metrically flawless
in their primary shapes, their derivatives may be faulty: OKpOiTov aiei >
6(961x0 aiei with hiatus, uepoixcov dcvOpcbmov > uepOTres avOpcoTroi; sentence
patterns bring them into juxtaposition and leave hiatus or short syllables
uncorrected (see MHV 191-221). These accidents are not frequent: the
aristeia of Agamemnon (11.91-168) is metrically flawless if a hiatus in
£coypei, 'Axpeos vie and an observed digamma before &va£ are excused.
(ix) Types of formula
Formulas are simply groups of two or more words that are associated with
each other; they are usually juxtaposed and syntactically linked, but neither
condition is necessary: Oodcov ... vncov or vecov ... Oodcov (5X) is clearly
formular, so is Ouiaos evi orfiOecrcn (35x //., 13X Od. - one of the most
frequent formulas in the epic) where the prepositional phrase construes with
the verb of the sentence. Formulas may thus arise among all grammatical
categories of word. Strings of particles, lightly adapted from the formulas of
vernacular speech, were noted in §iv and adverbial phrases (doxpccAes aiei,
etc.) in §iii; the minimal statements of §v would harden into verb + object
formulas. Homeric formulas parallel the formulas of vernacular speech:
'never-the-less' (particle string), 'break x's heart' (substitution system),
'serried ranks' (special epithet), 'arrant knave'/'fool'/'nonsense' (generic
epithet). 19 In the epic there are more of them and they are, at least to begin
with, related to metre.
Formulas of the simple kind, such as TTTTTTE 6e Aaos, coTrAicjcraTO SETTTVOV,
tuepos aipeT, lAe 5' avSpa, dvxios earr) (11.85-95), come into being directly
from the subject matter of the narrative. The hexameter, however, is a long
verse, and consequently the versifier finds a certain amplitude of style,
towards which he is already drawn as narrator, useful. Formulas that
embody a redundant element come into existence then as part of the epic
style. Of these there are two important kinds: doublets, which have received
little attention, and noun-epithet formulas, which have been intensively
studied.
Doublets: simple redundancy is common: fiyfjTopes f|8e ue8ovTes (9.17
etc.), UTreoxeTo Kai KaTeveuaev (9.19), dTTToAeiious T* ... Kai avaAi