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Formulas
analogical, of no great antiquity, and never made great inroads into the
territory of the stem Ai-. But comparable instability may arise from the fact
that the extension of a formula set is often achieved by the manipulation of
a few associations of noun and epithet. Thus the set of formulas built
up around the word CJ&KOS is: CT&KOS ueya TE crn(3apov TE 5 x (3 x in a wholeverse
formula), 5EIVOV CT&KOS ETTTOCPOEIOV 2X (7.245 and 266), CT&KOS ocioAov
ETTTCCpOElOV I X , CT&KOS . . . ETTTCCpOElOV I X , (7&KOS OUoAoV I X , CT&KOS EUpO
TravocioAov 1 x , CT&KOS evpu 1 x , Eupu ... CT&KOS 1 x , CT&KOS ... TETPOCOEAUUVOV
2X. (The formula cpEpcov CT&KOS TJUTE m/pyov (3X) is exclusive to
Telamonian Aias.) For the clustering of 8EIVOV CT&KOS hrrapOEiov in book 7
see §xvi. For the two regular formulas, CT&KOS |J£ya TE ori|3ap6v TE and CT&KOS
... TETpadEAuuvov, the rule of economy operates and there is no other
expression of the same metrical shape. The other expressions play with
various arrangements of the three epithets ETTTCCPOEIOV, orioAov, and Eupu,
and not surprisingly where the diction is fluid threw up CT&KOS ocloAov
ETrra|36£iov, a duplicate to 8EIVOV CT&KOS ETrrapOEiov. In most formula sets,
except for the 'hard' formulas in frequent use, this kind of fluidity is the
norm, and the ability to handle it an essential part of the art of song.
(xv) Modification etc. 25
Whatever the circumstances in which a formula comes into existence once
it has done so the formular bond is hard to break. The word-group persists
in spite of declension or conjugation, changed localization, expansion, or
shortening. Even a change in grammatical case that does not affect wordorder
or shape means a change in the sentence patterns and/or complex
formulas in which the formula is primarily employed. Graver accidents
than these are survived: TTEpiKaAAEcc 5icppov, both 'chair' and 'chariot',
KOcAAh-prxES iTTTTOi > KaAAiTpiXE ... ITTTTCO ='chariot' (see 17.504-511.),
UEVEa TTVEIOVTES (attributive phrase) > UEVOS TTVEIOVTES (participial phrase),
EUEpyECC vf\a > vnus EUEpyrjs, TTOVTOV ETT' IXOUOEVTOC > c EAAf|orrovTOV ETT'
ixOuoEVTa, vf|6u|ios OTTVOS > v. "YTTVOS personified. The formular link may
even survive enjambment, the epithet slipping into the pattern of the runover
word: fJTOp | OCAKIUOV, ITTTTOUS | COKEOCS, Gbuov | 5E£I6V, OUUCO | irpocppovi,
etc.
A majority of formulas are restricted to a single colon of the verse by their
length or metrics. Those whose shape would permit their location in two or
more positions tend to follow the pattern of use of similarly shaped formulas
whose position in the verse is fixed; most occurrences of formulas shaped
25 See Hainsworth, Flexibility for an analysis of the use of noun-epithet formulas shaped
-uu-u and uu-u.
26