Ulysses

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The legendary Greek king of Ithaca and hero of Homer's epic, famed for his cunning and long voyage home after the Trojan War ; the 1922 experimental novel by James Joyce that retells Homer's story through one day in Dublin ; the Roman name for the Greek wanderer Odysseus, known in Latin literature ; a place or thing named in honor of that legendary Greek hero
2. A mythical Greek warrior-king celebrated for cunning and a decade-long homeward journey ; a landmark 1922 modernist novel by James Joyce set in Dublin ; the Latinized name of the wily Greek hero Odysseus ; a locality or item bearing the name of that famous hero
3. The cunning Greek hero of Homer's epic who wandered for years after Troy ; the groundbreaking Irish novel by James Joyce that mirrors Homer's tale in a single city day ; the Roman form of the name Odysseus ; a site or object christened after that legendary figure

Etymology: The name a reader meets in English is not the one Homer's Greeks used. Odysseus is the Greek form, but the English "Ulysses" comes through Latin, where the hero was usually called "Ulixes" and the spelling "Ulysses" became a frequent alternative. The Latin version was itself shaped by the Greek original, so the Greek name and the Latin name influenced each other rather than one simply replacing the other. The result is that English has two separate words for the same hero. "Odysseus" is the Greek form, and "Ulysses" is the Latin-derived form, making the two a doublet: twin words from one source that arrived by different routes. Each kept its own shape, so a reader of classical literature may find the Latinized name in older translations and the Greek one in modern scholarship.

Synonyms: Odysseus