previous next

[279] ὑπηνήτης is one who has hair growing on the “ὑπ-ήν-η”, but commentators are not unanimous as to what part this may be. If Benfey is right in connecting it with root “αν”, ‘breathe,’ it should be the spot where the breath falls, lit. ‘under the breathing,’ which would suit an interpretation given by Hesych., “ὑπήνη ὅς ἐστι ὑπὸ τὴν ῥῖνα τόπος”, viz. the upper lip on which the moustachio grows. And certainly the hair usually shows itself there first. This view would fall in well with the words of Lucian de Sacrif. § 11. p. 76 “οὐκ οἶδ᾽ ὅπου ἰδόντες ἀναπλάττουσι γενειήτην μὲν τὸν Δία, παῖδα δ᾽ ἐσαεὶ τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα, καὶ τὸν Ἑρμῆν ὑπηνήτην”. Cp. Virg. Aen. 9. 181 ‘ora puer prima signans intonsa iuventa.’ As Odysseus seems to recognise him at once, it is not unlikely that some characteristic style had been already assigned in painting or sculpture to the principal gods and goddesses.

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

The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: