SKALD Cotterill · 1911 All analyses Translation Atlas Reader’s guide

English · Verse · English hexameter

H. B. Cotterill

A surface-form portrait of this Odyssey: corpus scale, recurring wording, line-window variation around Greek forms, and a comparison with other English translations.

Atlas edition year: 1911 · Statistics corpus year: 1911 · All 24 books

145,162words
8,231distinct word forms
0.0567vocabulary variety (distinct ÷ total)
29.18average sentence length
Cotterill compared with other English translations Copper bars show this translation; pale bars show the peer median for four surface-form metrics. Cotterill Peer median Words 145,162 median 118,026.5 Distinct word forms 8,231 median 6,650 Vocabulary variety 0.0567 median 0.0574 Average sentence length 29.18 median 24.90

Comparison basis: other English translations (12 peers). Each metric has its own scale. Cross-language style-group values are descriptive only.

Repeated wording

The translator’s formulas

The ten repeated phrases of three to six words that rank highest when we multiply how often each phrase appears by its length. Overlapping phrases can describe the same recurring line.

  1. “all of the” 169 occurrences · Od. 1.1 and 1.44
  2. “thus did he speak” 94 occurrences · Od. 1.365 and 2.1
  3. “thus did he speak and” 72 occurrences · Od. 1.365 and 2.1
  4. “then in answer addressed these words” 59 occurrences · Od. 4.147 and 5.192
  5. “did he speak” 116 occurrences · Od. 1.365 and 2.1
  6. “did he speak and” 84 occurrences · Od. 1.365 and 2.1
  7. “thus did he” 100 occurrences · Od. 1.365 and 2.1
  8. “in answer addressed these words” 59 occurrences · Od. 4.147 and 5.192
  9. “then in answer addressed these” 59 occurrences · Od. 4.147 and 5.192
  10. “then in answer addressed” 70 occurrences · Od. 4.147 and 5.192

Line-window evidence

One Greek word, many choices

Each card follows one Greek word into three visibly different passages in this translation. The Greek line containing the word appears first, followed by the nearby passage in the translation. The listed nearby words show recurring context, not direct translations of the Greek word.

δῖος

dios recurring nearby word 20%
  • γήθησέν τʼ ἄρʼ ἔπειτα πολύτλας δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς.
    Greek line · Od. 21.414
    Greatly exulting thereat long-suffering godlike Odysseus,
    Translation passage · Od. 21.414 · nearby words: exulting, greatly, suffering, thereat
  • ἢ οὐκ ἀίεις οἷον κλέος ἔλλαβε δῖος Ὀρέστης
    Greek line · Od. 1.298
    Surely thou know’st of the fame that was won by the noble Orestes:
    Translation passage · Od. 1.298 · nearby words: fame, know, noble, orestes
  • ἡμένη ἐν θαλάμῳ· ὁ δʼ ἐδείπνεε δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς·
    Greek line · Od. 17.506
    Up in her chamber, Odysseus was making a meal of the viands.
    Translation passage · Od. 17.506 · nearby words: chamber, making, meal, up

φίλος

philos recurring nearby word 14%
  • δός, φίλος· οὐ μέν μοι δοκέεις ὁ κάκιστος Ἀχαιῶν
    Greek line · Od. 17.415
    “Give to me, friend! — for thou seemst not the worst of the noble Achaeans,
    Translation passage · Od. 17.415 · nearby words: achaeans, friend, noble, seemst
  • ἀλλʼ Ἥρη παρέπεμψεν, ἐπεὶ φίλος ἦεν Ἰήσων.
    Greek line · Od. 12.72
    Save for the guidance of Hera, who showed such favour to Jason.
    Translation passage · Od. 12.72 · nearby words: favour, guidance, hera, jason
  • Τηλέμαχος, φίλος υἱὸς Ὀδυσσῆος θείοιο,
    Greek line · Od. 17.3
    Straightway under his feet bound firmly his beautiful sandals,
    Translation passage · Od. 17.3 · nearby words: bound, feet, firmly, sandals

συβώτης

sybōtēs recurring nearby word 15%
  • τὸν δʼ ἠμείβετʼ ἔπειτα συβώτης, ὄρχαμος ἀνδρῶν·
    Greek line · Od. 14.121
    Forthwith answering spake Eumaeus master of swineherds:
    Translation passage · Od. 14.121 · nearby words: answering, eumaeus, swineherds
  • ἔστη ἐνὶ προθύροισι. ταφὼν δʼ ἀνόρουσε συβώτης,
    Greek line · Od. 16.12
    Stood his belovéd — his son! Up leapt in amazement the swineherd,
    Translation passage · Od. 16.12 · nearby words: amazement, belovéd, leapt, stood
  • ἀγροῦ ἐπʼ ἐσχατιήν, ὅθι δώματα ναῖε συβώτης.
    Greek line · Od. 24.150
    Brought to the farm at the end of the isle where dwelleth the swineherd.
    Translation passage · Od. 24.150 · nearby words: brought, dwelleth, end, farm

ἀμύμονος

amymonos recurring nearby word 27%
  • ἐκ χειρῶν Ὀδυσῆος ἀμύμονος, ὃν τότʼ ἀτίμα
    Greek line · Od. 21.99
    Sped by the hands of the noble Odysseus, whom lately he flouted,
    Translation passage · Od. 21.99 · nearby words: flouted, lately, noble, sped
  • μολπῆς τε γλυκερῆς καὶ ἀμύμονος ὀρχηθμοῖο.
    Greek line · Od. 23.145
    Yearning for sweet-voiced song and the peerless pleasure of dancing.
    Translation passage · Od. 23.145 · nearby words: dancing, peerless, pleasure, song
  • εἰπὲ δέ μοι Πηλῆος ἀμύμονος, εἴ τι πέπυσσαι,
    Greek line · Od. 11.494
    Say to me also if aught thou hast learnt of the glorious Peleus:
    Translation passage · Od. 11.494 · nearby words: aught, glorious, hast, learnt

τόξον

toxon recurring nearby word 78%
  • τόξον μνηστήρεσσι θέμεν πολιόν τε σίδηρον
    Greek line · Od. 21.3
    Bidding her carry the bow and the cold grey axes of iron
    Translation passage · Od. 21.3 · nearby words: axes, bidding, bow, carry
  • τόξον μὲν πρὸς σταθμὸν ἐϋσταθέος μεγάροιο
    Greek line · Od. 22.120
    Nigh to the post of the door of the massively builded apartment
    Translation passage · Od. 22.120 · nearby words: apartment, builded, door, massively
  • ἀλλὰ σύ, δῖʼ Εὔμαιε, φέρων ἀνὰ δώματα τόξον
    Greek line · Od. 21.234
    Therefore, my good Eumaeus, when bearing it round in the palace
    Translation passage · Od. 21.234 · nearby words: bearing, eumaeus, round, therefore

Statistical comparison

Against its siblings

Cotterill offers a sustained English experiment in hexameter, using long rolling lines to engage directly with the meter associated with Homer in the atlas account. The corpus contains 145162 words and 8231 distinct word forms. Its score-ranked formula list begins with “all of the,” recorded 169 times; this first position does not mean it has the highest raw count. For scale within other English translations, Murray contains 133986 words. The comparison therefore joins publication history to observable corpus structure, keeping the historical portrait vivid while letting the measurements describe only textual scale, lexical distribution, and repeated phrasing. These measures offer a compact view of the textual evidence available here. The emphasis remains on directly observable features of the supplied corpora. That focus keeps the comparison useful without asking the data to support more than it can.

Keep the edition in context.

Open its full atlas record, or read it beside the Greek and the other bundled translations in Skald.

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