Sunday 19 April 2020

for the nonce: goatforsaken

The Ancient Greek word αἰγίλιψ (aigílips) to flatten the metaphor means steep or sheer and literally a place “destitute even of goats,” sure-footed as they might be.  Homer’s Odyssey includes this epithet as an island in the Ionian Sea near Ithaca and part of the titular character’s dominion whose modern name is Μεγανήσι (Meganisi)—meaning rather unprosaically Big Island.