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[319] ἔμπορος, ‘a passenger.’ This meaning is brought out in Od.24. 300“ἦ ἔμπορος εἰλήλουθας νηὸς ἐπ᾽ ἀλλοτρίης”. Nitzsch remarks that though in later Greek “ἔμπορος” stands generally for a ‘merchant,’ yet the idea of travel connected with it sufficiently marks it off from “κάπηλος”. Cp. Plato, de R. P.371B “καὶ δὴ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων διακόνων που τῶν τε εἰσαξόντων καὶ ἐξαξόντων ἕκαστα [δεῖ ἡμῖν]. οὗτοι δέ εἰσιν ἔμποροι. ἦ γάρ; Ναί. Καὶ ἐμπόρων ἅμα δεησόμεθα. Πάνυ γε. Καὶ ἐὰν μέν γε κατὰ θάλατταν ἡ ἐμπορία γίγνηται, συχνῶν καὶ ἄλλων προσδεήσεται τῶν ἐπιστημόνων τῆς περὶ τὴν θάλατταν ἐργασίας”.

οὐ γὰρ νηὸς ἐπήβολος … γίγνομαι, ‘for I am not to obtain;’ ‘I am not to become possessed of.’ This is the force of “γίγνομαι”. An emphasis is thrown on “ὔμμιν”, as Telemachus implies ironically that ‘of course the decision rests with you;’ though you are, some of you, strangers, and I the king's son.

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

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