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[35] φήμῃ. The particular significance of this “φήμη” depends on its being a casual utterance, of the full bearing of which the speaker is unaware. Here Aegyptius is unconscious that he is blessing Telemachus, who only acknowledges himself as the summoner of the assembly in verse 40. In Od.18. 117; 20. 120, “κλεηδών” is used in a sense almost identical; indeed, in the latter passage what is called “κλεηδών” in l. 120, had already been called “φήμη” in l. 105. Autenrieth (Nägelsb. Hom. Theol. p. 170) attempts to distinguish the two, by making “φήμη” mean a significant word in general, while “κλεηδών” takes rather the form of a direct personal address, but this seems doubtful.

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

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