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[150] θεσπεσίῃ. This epithet is more often applied to “ἠχή” than to any other word in Homer; analogous to this is its usage with “ἰαχή, βοή, ἀλαλητός, ὅμαδος”, with which it perhaps retains some colour of its etymology, viz. “θεός” and root “σεπ” (see Curt. G. E. 230, 411), as if describing that which was uttered or might be uttered by a God. In Il.2. 367 this primary meaning is fully kept in the use of “θεσπεσίῃ” absolutely, = ‘by the will of heaven.’ In the word “θέσ-φατος”, the signification ‘uttered or ordained by heaven’ is never lost; in its strengthened form “ἀθέσφατος”, properly ‘ineffable,’ ne ab ipsis quidem Dis narrandum, it has passed generally into an epithet, signifying ‘marvellous,’ ‘strong,’ or ‘vast,’ e.g. “ἀθέσφατος οἶνος, γαῖα, ὄμβρος”, etc. Similarly “θεσπέσιος” is used merely to express excellence, greatness, or completeness, as with “λαῖλαψ, ὀδμή, ἀχλύς, νέφος, πλοῦτος, χάρις, ἄωτος, χαλκός, ἀοιδή, φόβος, φύζα”. As an epithet of “ἄντρον, βηλός”, and possibly of “Σείρηνες” (see Od.12. 158), it seems to tend in the direction of its natural meaning ‘sacred.’

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

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