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[221] θυμός … ψυχή. The etymology of “θυμός”, root “θυ”, as in “θύελλα, θυιάς”, is the Skt. dhu, seen in dhumas, ‘smoke,’ Lat. ‘fumus.’ Plato, Cratyl. 419, speaks of “θυμὸς ἀπὸ τῆς θύσεως καὶ ζέσεως τῆς ψυχῆς”. The connection of “ψυχή” with root spu, sphu, signifying ‘to blow,’ suggests its identity of meaning with anima and spiritus. The general meaning of “θυμός” is ‘feeling,’ ‘temper,’ ‘affection,’ or ‘desire;’ the seat of it is “ἐν στήθεσσι” Od.23. 215, or “ἐν φρεσί”. It is often used for vital principle or vital powers; so we have “θυμὸν ὀλέσσαι, ἀφελέσθαι, ἀποπνείειν, ἀγείρειν ἐς φρένα”, etc.; and, as here, “λίπ᾽ ὀστέα θυμός”. Generally it is applied to men, but we also find it used for the life of animals, as in Il.3. 294; 12.150. We have “ψυχή” coupled with “θυμός” in Il.11. 334, and frequently with “μένος”.

With the phrase λίπῃ … ὀστέα θυμός we may compare “τὸν δ᾽ ἔλιπε ψυχή”, used of swooning, Il.5. 696; of death, in Od.14. 426.Life, as expressed by “ψυχή”, is a separable principle. When the body dies, the “ψυχή” may escape by the mouth, Il.9. 409; or through a wound, Il.14. 518.The “ψυχή”, when separated from the body, finds its natural home in the realm of Hades. It is in the fact of having an existence of its own, separate from the body, that “ψυχή” is characteristically distinguished from “θυμός”, which is considered to be extinguished with the death of the body; though in Il.7. 131 we find “θυμὸν ἀπὸ μελέων δῦναι δόμον Ἄιδος εἴσω”. The disembodied “ψυχή”, though unsubstantial, might preserve exactly the form and lineaments of the body which it had occupied, Il.23. 65 foll. See note on “εἴδωλον” sup. 213. In this passage we may render “θυμός” ‘life,’ and “ψυχή” ‘soul.’

Homer's Odyssey. W. Walter Merry. James Riddell. D. B. Monro. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1886-1901.

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