Nestor

In the first four rhapsodies of the Odyssey, Telemachus (the shower or bather) goes on a journey out of Ithaca (toilet) in search of his absent father Odysseus (water flush) following the instructions of Athena disguised as Mentes (oil; in this case, body oil, ointment) who accompanies him during this quest. At the outset of Telemachus' journey, Odysseus had been absent from home for twenty years due to the Trojan War (market and marketing issues) and the intervention (shortage) of Odysseus' divine enemy, Poseidon (the drinking water). During his absence, Odysseus' house is occupied by hordes of suitors seeking the hand of his wife Penelope (filth). Telemachus first visits Nestor, with the epithet Gerenios, king of Pylos, in his lofty house and is well received by the wise old man who regales him with stories of his father's glory. Telemachus then departs with Nestor's son Peisistratus, who accompanies him to the halls of Menelaus, king of Sparta.

Athena, the olive oil (see section Athena and Athens) disguised as Mentes, accompanies Telemachus on his journey to Nestor's place (Hom. Od. 1.105, 180). In other words, Telemachus brings with him some Mentes oil, i.e., oil in the form of Mentes. Mentes (Μέντης; Mentēs; MENTHS) is a son of Anchialos, king of the Taphians.

Anchialus (Ἀγχίαλος; Agxialos; AGXIALOS; /anxialos/) is not ἀγχί-αλος (agxi + alos; near the sea or sea-girt) but agx + xia + ial + alo + s – sol – ola – lai – aix – ixg – xga (Table 1; see section On the origin of words). Forward semantic scanning of Agxialos reveals violent wrestling-like movements that may lead to the destruction of the opponent. Thus, Anchialus is wrestling, fighting, or combat. In reverse, Agxialos (SOLAIXNA) reads as a desire to end the fight without the slightest abrasion and worry, not to sit thrown like mass bleeding from everywhere because of errors of fight conduct.

Table 1. Semantic scan of AGXIALOS (Anchialus). Meanings compiled from Liddell and Scott, 1996.

Stem	Cognates	Transliteration	Meanings
*Forward*
AGX	ἄγχι	agxi	near, like
	ἄγχω	agx ō	squeeze, embrace, hug, in wrestling, strangle, throttle,
XIA	χιάζω	xiazō	mark with two lines crossing like an X, arrange crosswise, make a cruciform incision, cross out, cancel a document
	χιαστέον	xiasteon	one must cut a bandage in the form of an X
IAL	ἰάλλω	iallō	send forth, put forth hands, laid hands upon, throw, set down, assail, make a concerted or violent attack on
ALO	ἀλοάω	aloaō	tread, thresh, smite, cudgel, thrash, crush, smash, destroy, drive round and round, like cattle treading out the corn
*Reverse*
SOL	σόλιον	solion	seat, stool
	σόλος	solos	mass or lump of iron used in throwing
	σολοικίζω	soloikizō	err, speak or write incorrectly, commit a solecism, be guilty of an absurdity, err against good manners or propriety in any way, behave boorishly
OLA	ὄλα (ὀλός, ὅλος )	ola (olos)	blood, whole, entire, complete in all its parts, utter
	ὀλαί (οὐλαί)	olai (oulai)	wound scarred over, scars,
	ὀλατοί (διωγμός)	olatoi (diōgmos)	chase, pursuit, persecution, harassing
	ὀλαεῖ (ἐνοχλεῖ)	olaei (enoxlei)	be troubled, annoyed, unwell, overburdened, worry about, fuss over
LAI	λαί (αἰσχρουργίας)	lai (aisxrologia)	shameless conduct, obscenity,
	λαιός (λάζομαι)	laios (lazomai)	blue thrush, left (receive)
	λαίω (λάω)	lai ō (la ō)	seize, hold, gripping it as it struggled
AIX	αἰχμά/αἰχμή	aixma/aixmē	spear, battle, fighting spirit/point of a spear, point of arrows, war, battle, sharpness, warlike spirit
IX	ἶχαρ	ixar	vehement desire
IX(G/N)	ἴχνιον	ixnion	track, footprint
	ἴχνος	ixnon	track, footstep, trace, trail, representation
	Ἰχνεύω	ixneyō	track out, hunt after, seek, emulate
X(G/N)A	χναύω	xnayō	nibble
	χναῦμα	xnayma	slice, tit-bit, scrap (small bite, injury)

Fight (Anchialus) was the king of Taphians. The Taphians were not the inhabitants of a small island called Τάφος (Taphos). Who would call their dwelling τάφος (taphos), funeral rites, burial, Grave, or Tomb? Compare ταφή (taphē), burial, τάφιος (taphios), gravestone, τάφια (taphia), burial-place, and ταφεών (tapheōn), burial-ground. The inhabitants of taphos were the dead, and those who liked rowing – a metaphor for digging – were the undertakers.

ξεῖνος δ᾽ οὗτος ἐμὸς πατρώιος ἐκ Τάφου ἐστίν,

Μέντης δ᾽ Ἀγχιάλοιο δαΐφρονος εὔχεται εἶναι

υἱός, ἀτὰρ Ταφίοισι φιληρέτμοισιν ἀνάσσει.

Hom. Od. 1.417

But this stranger is a friend of my father's house from Taphos. He declares that he is Mentes, son of wise Anchialus, and he is lord over the oar-loving Taphians.

[420] So spoke Telemachus, but in his heart, he knew the immortal goddess.

(Homer and Murray 1919)

In this passage, the wise Anchialus is a wise fight, a combat wisely conducted. Wise combat rules over the undertakers, but unwise combat may lead to death. The oar-loving Taphians are, in fact, the shovel-loving undertakers. The shovel digs the soil just as the oar digs the water. The son of the wise combat was Mentes (Μέντης; mentēs; MENTHS), an oil (Athena) preparation, oil-ment (Athena-ment; Table 2). Mentes turns out by semantic scanning to be the gear, equipment, and preparation for combat. Note that the inverse ichnography of the stem ent, from ente, (e)tne seen at the level of strokes (ßN+ or ß/\/+), is +Nß. The arrow shows the direction and timing of movement (N; see section N). Whereas ent implies a space or period up to (until) the event (T), tne means contact, absence of space or time to the event, or a counterattack.

Table 2. Semantic scan of MENTHS (Mentes). Meanings are compiled from Liddell and Scott, 1940.

Stem	Cognates	Transliteration	Meanings
Forward
MEN	μένω	menō	stand fast, in battle, lodge, tarry, stand, stay at home, remain as one was, stay, stay where one is, hold good (stay intact, safe)
	μένος	menos	might, force, strength, fierceness, spirit, passion, battler age, spiritual exaltation, intent, purpose,
ENT	ἕντε	ente	until, up to ßN+ \| +Nß to be a neighbour, be adjacent, border on, resemble
	ἔντος, ἔντεα	entos, entea	fighting gear, arms, armour, furniture, appliances, tackle, trappings, harness, rigging, instruments, within, inside
	ἐντύω, ἐντύνω	entyō, entynō	equip, deck out, get ready, implement, urge, prepare for oneself, provide one what is needful, be furnished with
Reverse
SHT	σητάω	sētaō	fret
NEM	νέμω	nemō	deal out, dispense, distribute, call over

The English suffix ment forms nouns expressing the means or result of an action. Its etymology only goes back to the Latin mentum added to verb stems to make nouns indicating the result or product of the action of the verb or the means or instrument of the action. The Online Etymological Dictionary (OED) states that "in Vulgar Latin and Old French, it [ment] came to be used as a formative in nouns of action. French inserts an -e- between the verbal root and the suffix (as in commenc-e-ment from commenc-er; with verbs in ir, -i- is inserted instead (as in sent-i-ment from sentir)." The OED expresses the mainstream view that French verbs end in -er or -ir, not -r (R for action). Nobody seems to notice that -ment simply replaces the -r ending of French verbs, and no vowel is added. From Table 2, Mentes is the preparation or equipment for action (fight) and has precisely the same meaning as the Latin mentum or English and French -ment. Compare the English means, to mean (to intend, plan to do), and to the past form ment.

Therefore, Telemachus carried an oil preparation as his gear for the fight. So macroscopically seen, Telemachus is not the bath (see section Telemachus) but the fighter before (tele-) the fight (machē), the one who prepares for the fight, who has to bathe and cover himself with oil to conduct a wise fight.

Imagine buying a little flask of body oil or ointment (Athena-ment). The user's instructions clearly state that you must shower before applying the product to your skin. You go to the bathroom (Ithaca) to take a shower, but there is no water flush (Odyseus: Ulysses > *Ϝlusses > flush; see section Odysseus). It has long been cut for market purposes (Trojan War) and then because of a shortage of drinking water (Poseidon). The divine Poseidon, the drinking water, hates Odysseus, the water escaping from pipes. What do you do? If you insist on applying your body oil, you must find other water sources to take your bath. One such source is the tea kettle at the fireplace, i.e., Nestor Gerenios of Pylos. The story of Nestor in Homer's Odyssey is about socialising around a cup of coffee (Fig. 1) er!… tea in an expensive public bath.

Figure 1. Coffee house in Vienna. Painting by Anonymous, 1900, marked as public domain.

Nestor was the son of king Neleus of Pylos and Chloris, daughter of king Amphion (Hom. Od. 281-285) of Orchomenus. Otherwise, Nestor's mother was called Polymede. Neleus, Nestor's father, was a son of Poseidon and Tyro (Kiesling et al. 2019). The family tree and the 'geographical' localisation of each mythological object are essential as they specify its ontology. To better understand the meaning of an object, we have to study the properties and relations between the members of its family and fit them together into a coherent semantic network.

According to Homer, Nestor descends from Poseidon, the drinking water (see section Poseidon), and Tyro (Greek Τυρώ; tyrō; TYRΩ). Ω frequently stands for the shape of the signified object unless it represents repetitive cycles (OO), e.g., as a verb ending. We may, therefore, presume that TYRΩ has an upright or inverted Ω shape. The stem tyr starts the simple words τυρός (tyros; the tyr-thing), meaning cheese, and the verbs τυρεύω (tyreyō) or τυρόω (tyroō), to make cheese, but also to mix up cunningly, contrive by trickery and intrigue. Some of these simple cognates carry the sememe of intrigue, which is thought to be a metaphor for cheese making (e.g., τυρεία; tyreia; cheesemaking, intrigue, roguery). The current definitions of intrigue may be somewhat misleading. If we follow the stem trig, we find an Old English meaning of a wooden board with a low rim, a tray. A similar word starting with intri, intricate means a great deal of fine detail or complexity, evoking the net of a sieve. Thence, particles formed by int, like intro, intra, and inter, refer to traffic between the sides of a net. For example, intransitive means not transitive or passing further, kept, detained. It is precisely the function of a sieve. I know most modern scholars will object and would instead split the word as in-transit-ive or in-trans-it-ive. But these are not the only possibilities. The word intrant, from Latin intrans, means what enters, penetrates.

There is triple reason to believe that TYRΩ is a strainer, especially the cheesecloth. Firstly, it has an Ω shape. Secondly, the inverse of TYR, RYT, is the root of ῥυτός (rytos), meaning flowing, fluid, liquid. Straining the fluid out of the curd is an essential part of cheesemaking. The third reason is that one of the senses of τυρόω (tyroō) is to make a mess. The difference between the English mess and mesh is subtle and tells us something important about the mechanism of aspiration of double consonants (see section Aspiration).

As explained (see section Odysseus), one of the uses of the Archaic letter Stigma (now the digraph St) was for stitching and binding together. Stigma was not included in the Classical Greek alphabet but was replaced by SS, TT, St, and other graphical solutions with similar meanings. SS was converted to aspirate Sh in Western European languages, but only sometimes. Like in Odysseus, Ulysses, or mess, the stitches are broken. Instead, the stitches are intact in a mesh. Intact bonds are graphically represented with the graphemes | – | forming H. Hence, SS is replaced by Sh. Alternatively, a mess has loose bonds like cheesecloth, whereas a mesh has a tighter structure. In any case, making a mess is not very different from making a mesh. Thus, tyroō refers not only to cheesemaking but also to making a strainer or strain. That Tyro married Poseidon means that the drinking water penetrated a strainer, presumably to be purified to drinking grade.

Figure 2. Left: Assorted new automotive road tires, showing various tread patterns; artwork by Stephen Flanders under Creative Commons license. Middle: High-performance rally tires; artwork by Jorjum marked as public domain. Right: A cross-section of a tire showing ply orientations; artwork by Duduk Alexander marked as public domain.

An independent English word formed with tyr is tyre (Fig. 2), which presents traces of a mesh on its surface and internal structure. Y and U having been equivalent and interchangeable in linguistic history, the English tyr produces rut by inversion. Rut primarily means the tracks of wheels on the ground, and route is a hardly recognisable corrupted spelling of the same stem. Some sources suggest that tyre and its newer spelling tire derive from the verb attire, first attested as atiren (circa 1300), to fit out, equip, dress in finery, adorn, from Old French atirer, earlier atirier, to arrange, put into order (i.e., make a mesh, rather than a mess). But this proposition is inconsistent with the original spelling of tyre. Attire has always been spelt with I. Others associate tyre with the verb to tie, from Middle English teye (cord, chain), which better relates to binding together and stitching into a net. In Indian English, tyre means curdled milk, i.e., cheese (Greek τυρός; tyros).

So, the drinking water (Poseidon) and the cheesecloth (Tyro) combined to make Neleus (Νηλεύς; Nēleys; NHLEyS). Therefore, Neleus must be a drinking-water cheesecloth, strainer, or filter. The myth says that Tyro was married to king Cretheus of Iolcus, with whom she had three sons, Aeson, Pherês, and Amythaon, but she loved Enipeus, a river (god!). She pursued Enipeus, who refused her advances. One day, Poseidon, filled with lust for Tyro, disguised himself as Enipeus and lay with her; from their union were born twin sons, Pelias and Neleus. It is not my intention to analyse the whole lot here. Still, I will highlight some elements showing that the myth is about gravity-driven water movements, and Tyro was a water sieve used as a drinking water (Poseidon) filter.

Cretheus (Κρηθεύς; krētheys) shares sememes with κρῆθεν (krēthen), meaning down from the head, from the top. The -eys ending suggests a vertical water source (see section Ey), i.e., water descending from the top (roof, top of the hill, sky, etc.). The stem ōlk from Iōlkos (Ἰωλκός; Iolcus) means furrow; Hesychius calls it ἰῶλκα (iōlka; *Iolca). The phrase Cretheus of Iolcus means from the top of the furrow. Cretheus king of Iolcus means that irrigation furrows are fed from the top of a hill, or the principal application of slope flow was field irrigation. Cretheus is the gravity causing water to flow downwards, and its 'sons' are examples, applications, or variations of the phenomenon.

Aeson (Αἴσων; Aisōn; AISΩN) was the father of Jason (Ἰάσων; Iasōn; IASΩN). Here, we have an AI/IA inversion reminding the PIPA case (see section Pipe) where wide-to-narrow is confronted with narrow-to-wide, and collection (filling), to distribution (emptying). AISΩN may describe a vessel (A) with an inlet or outlet tube or channel (I) connection (S; Ω-shaped) and the movement (N) of fluid through them. IA should be the inlet, and AI, the outlet. The stem SΩN starts the verb σωννύω (sōnnyō; σῴζω), meaning to save, keep, preserve, maintain, rescue. Thus, AISΩN would mean flow from a reserve, and AISΩN, collection to a reservoir. The inverse of SΩN, NΩS starts νῶσις (nōsis; or νόησις; noēsis), intelligence, understanding, idea, concept, processes of thought, i.e., process and application of stored (intellectual) material. NΩS also appears in γνῶσις (gnōsis), knowledge, inquiry, investigation, acquaintance, or recognition.

Amythaon contains amy from ἀμύω (amyō), to sink down, fall, and θάω (thaō), to suck the breast or milk. The third son of Cretheus with Tyro, Pherês (Φέρης; Pherēs), derives from φέρω (pherō), to bear, carry, load, convey, bring, fetch, etc. Tyro married those natural water movements as an inverted Ω-shaped object to collect and transport fluids such as water, milk, etc. Unlike ΩR, from HYDΩR, where a convex Ω-shaped object is placed as a hat, a cover, on top of a water channel for protection (see section Water), the RΩ of Tyro is an iconic representation of the concave Ω-channel itself. A second use of the inverse of tyr, ryt, from ῥυτός (rytos) is quarried, i.e., extracted, dragged, hauled, moved by force from bottom to top, or from down upwards. In the case of milking (Amythaon), Tyro is the milk container. In the context of cheesemaking, Tyro is the cheese container/strainer. The cross-section of a tyre in Fig. 2 reveals the RΩ shape of TYR (Y, U, for void); hence, turn (TYR-N) for TYR-movement.

The river with whom Tyro fell in love was not a spiritual god but a purchased domestic good. Enipeus (Ἐνιπεύς; enipeys; ENIPEyS) is a water source ('river'), again, because it ends in -eys. The stem nip from νίπτω (niptō), or νίζω (nizō), to purge, cleanse, wash, is the inverse of the stem pin from πίνω (pinō), to drink. Drinking water must not be used for washing – otherwise, Poseidon, the drinking water provider, will be very upset – and washing water must not be drunk. This is another opposition by inversion (see section On the origins of words). The washing vessel, or basin, is νιπτήρ (niptēr), and the washing water is νίπτρον (niptron). The initial en or eni prefix of Enipeus means in, into, and functions just to indicate the content of the washing basin and what is in it. Tyro loved Enipeus, but the latter refused her advances. There is no need to strain (separate solid from liquid, percolate, or filter with a strainer; Fig. 3), restrain the washing water with a Stigma, Ͳ-shaped stopper, or retain in a bucket, but drain it, let it pass away (D for passage; see section D). Note that the latter English terms contain rain as a reminder that they were initially about rainwater management. However, Proto-Indo-European (PIE) theory does not recognise any relation of these terms to rain or its root *reg-, for moist, wet.

Figure 3. Top: Kitchen strainer. Artwork by Evan-Amos. Bottom: Stainless steel sink strainer. Artwork by Fructibus. Both are marked as public domain.

One day, the drinking water Poseidon was contaminated with impurities and disguised to resemble the washing water Enipeus. It so fooled and penetrated the strainer/filter Tyro. From this union, two twin children were born. In mythology, twins usually refer to products that cannot exist without their counterparts. In this case, Neleus was the clean, filtered water and Pelias was the turbid water or sediment left behind on the filter.

Nēleys pairs with nēleystos (νήλευστος; NHLEYStOS), meaning invisible, probably referring to the filter's pores or to the particles it retains. It also pairs with chēleyō (χηλεύω; XHLEYΩ; / hiːlevo/; compare English heal; /hiːl/), to make a net, plait, perhaps to clean and heal (wounds) with water (Ey). The letter X would stand for crossing and indicate the mesh pattern of the fabric used for cleaning (gauze), the pattern of medical bandage, or the pattern of (non-ceremonial) anointing for health (Fig. 4). The word ēleyato (ἠλεύατο; HLEYATO), an aorist of various verbs meaning to avoid (ἀλέομαι; aleomai), to grind, bruise (ἀλέω; aleō), or shut in or out, hinder, hold in check, bind fast, prevent, prevent from flowing away, enclose, cover, protect, huddle around, draw together, all referring to uses of cloth, or wind, turn round, revolve, move to and fro, pivot or swing round (εἴλω; eilō).

Figure 4. Left: Gauze balls; artwork by Antoine Chonion under Creative Commons license. Middle: Achilles bandaging Patroclus. Tondo of an Attic red-figure kylix, circa 500 BC, from Vulci, Italy. Painting attributed to the Sosias, Kleophrades or Euthymides, marked as public domain. Right: The anointing of Tsar Nicholas II at Uspensky Cathedral in Moscow in 1896. Painting by Valentin Alexandrovich Serov marked as public domain.

The stem NHL (/niːl/; compare Latin homophone nīl; /niːl/; nothing, zero) forms νῆλος (nēlos), which is explained by Hesychius as ἔριον (wool, cotton, spider web) or ἄμεινον (better, stronger, stouter) λῆνος (lēnos), which also meant wool but, apparently, of lesser quality, strength, or performance than nēlos. Note that the LHN of lēnos is the inverse of NHL of nēlos. This inversion creates the antonymy weaker/stronger, unprocessed/processed, non-functional/functional (see section On the origin of words). In addition, νηλής (nēlēs), pitiless, ruthless, resolute, relentless, or dogged, probably refers to the properties of nēl, while νηλιτής (nēlitēs), guiltless, harmless, or νηλεῖτις (nēleitis), unoffending, to the properties of the product. Finally, the ending EyS of Nēleys – always for a water (Ey) source, or resource, in general (see section Ey) – makes Nēleys a wool (-filtered) water.

The Wikipedia article about water filters captures the history of water filtration from a private website of a Canadian filter manufacturer (Luminor 2022). They state that the earliest recorded attempts to find or generate pure water date back to 2000 BC and cite early Sanskrit writings outlining water purification methods. However, the earliest attested Sanskrit text date only from the end of the second millennium BC and Classical Sanskrit, to which the authors probably refer, dates from the second half of the first millennium BC (with two major Sanskrit epics written around 400 – 300 BC). The authors continue:

These methods ranged from boiling… to filtering water through crude sand or charcoal filters. These writings suggest that the major motive for purifying water was to provide better-tasting drinking water. It was assumed that good-tasting water was also clean. People did not yet connect impure water with the disease, nor did they have the technology necessary to recognise tasteless yet harmful organisms in the water. Centuries later, Hippocrates, the famed father of medicine, began to conduct his own experiments in water purification. Hippocrates designed his crude water filter to 'purify" the water he used for his patients. Later known as the Hippocratic sleeve, this filter was a cloth bag through which water could be poured after being boiled. The cloth would trap any sediment in the water that was causing a bad taste or smell.

Hippocrates (circa 460 – circa 370 BC) must have studied Homer as a kid, and he would, therefore, know the water-filtering power of wool. A recent study demonstrates that wool removes even viruses from water and suggests its use against modern polymers as a filter medium for treating point-of-use drinking water, especially in resourceless situations requiring practical solutions for accessing safe water (Pang et al. 2022). The ancients may have tried both nēlos and lēnos. Raw wool straight off a sheep is known as greasy wool or wool in the grease. It contains valuable lanolin, a wax secreted by the animal's sebaceous glands, and the sheep's dead skin and sweat residue. An estimated 8,000 to 20,000 different types of esters are present in lanolin ("Lanolin" 2022). Before use for commercial purposes, wool must be scoured. Scouring, i.e., removing lanolin and environmental contaminants, may be as simple as a bath in warm water. Lanolin constitutes about 5–25% of the weight of freshly shorn wool.

The term lanolin suggests thinning (A>I) of wool from a waxy, fat, greasy state to a lean (/liːn/) state. The LHN (/liːn/) stem of lēnos (wool; synonym of nēlos) may well refer to washed wool. The English lean is said to derive from Old English hleonian, hlinian, or hlǣne, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hlainijaną, and PIE root *klei- meaning to lean. All those old cognates start with a /h/ phoneme, which may be the origin of C in clean. Thus, lean and clean would be cognates referring to objects from which grease has been removed.

The brother of the wool-filtered water (Neleus) was called Pelias (Πελιας; Pelias; PELIAS) or Πελίης (Peliēs, PELIHS). He was king of Iolcos (Ἰωλκός; iōlkos; IΩLKOS). We may guess iōlkos is about agriculture because ΩLK forms a few words related to hauling, like νεωλκός (neōlkos), one who hauls up a ship into a dock, or νεωλκέω (neōlkeō), to haul a ship up on land, but starts only one word, ὠλκα (ōlka) meaning furrow. An agricultural furrow requires heavy-weight hauling. According to Hesychius, ἰῶλκα (iōlka) also means furrow. The kingdom of Pelias was, therefore, the furrow. Pelias was unclean water suitable for agricultural irrigation, not for domestic use.

The stem peli of Pelias means discoloured by extravasated blood, black and blue, livid, generally, dark, in Pelias' synonym πελιός (pelios). The Ancient Greek πελίκη (pelikē) is glossed as χοῦς (xoys), excavated soil, grave, from χόω (xoō), to cover with earth, bury, or λεκάνη (lekanē), dish, pot, pan, basin, and πελίωσις (peliōsis), extravasation of blood. Therefore, peli fits dirty (discoloured) objects that must be cleaned.

Whereas the kingdom of the dirty water, Pelias, was the furrow (mud, irrigation, agricultural use), the kingdom of the clean water Neleus was the tube orifice or the fireplace Πύλος (Pylos; PYLOS), for drinking and cooking. The ichnogram PYL (ΠYΛ or Π∨Λ) describes a Π-shaped hollow object for up/down or in/out traffic, indicated by the arrow letters ∨ and Λ. The common noun πύλος (pylos) is usually translated as a gate in architectural contexts. Still, it generally means πύλη (pylē), entrance, orifice, fissure, portal, pass, entrance into a country through mountains or open seas through narrow straits, the point of entrance into, or exit from a broader area. The Doric (older) word πῦς (pys) means Attic ποῖ (poi), whither, to what spot, to what end, Aeolic ποῦ (poy), where; which fits the mytheme of Telemachus going to Pylos to inquire his father's whereabouts. Other words using pyl include πυλωρός (pylōros), pylorus or lower orifice of the stomach or of the uterus, χαλκόπυλος (chalkopylos), referring to the bronze spouts of the Castalia spring, in Delphi, or to the orifice of an oil dispenser (an epithet of Athena; see section Athena and Athens), καμπύλος (kampylos), crooked, curved, bent, etc. As a king of the orifice (Pylos), the wool filter Neleus was to be found in every faucet to convert the washing water into drinking grade.

Another king of the orifice Pylos was Nestor, the son of the faucet filter Neleus and Chloris, a daughter of Amphion of Orchomenos. The orch of Orchomenos (Ὀρχομενός; orxomenos) is found in English orchard. In Greek, ὄρχος (orchos) means a row of vines or fruit trees. The ending menos forms μένος (menos), might, force, strength, life, intent, or purpose. The inverse, nem means deal out, dispense, distribute, administer, manage (νέμω; nemō), and ochros (ὀχρός; orxos), sustain, endure, bear or carry a load, convey with a notion of motion, bring, fetch, offer, present, produce, bring or carry with one, carry off or away, carry off, gain, especially by toil or trouble, win, achieve, etc. (glossed with φέρω; ferō). Orchomenos is the production (forward reading) and distribution (reverse) of orchard goods. By replacing the X (Ch) of orxomenos with Gamma (G), we get terms such as organ, organism, organon (instrument, implement, tool), organisation, orgasm, orgy, and several cognates implying maturation, completion, integration, perfection, both in English and Greek. Therefore, Orchomenos is a garden in the making. Besides, archē (ἀρχή; arxē) is the beginning, origin, first principle, element, ergon (ἔργον, with many cognates), the work, deed, action, occupation and erxomai (ἔρχομαι), to start, set out. The X/G and A/O/E variations are not phonetic but semantic and iconic.

In Hom. Od. 11.281, the word Orchomenos is followed by the epithet Μινυείῳ (minyeiō), 'translated' as Minyan, from Μινύ̂ας, a legendary king of Orchomenos. We find the stem miny in μινύον (minyon) meaning μικρός (mikros; micro), small, short, petite, μινυθημα (minythēma), that which is lessened, μίνυνθα (minyntha), a short time, μινυθω (minythō), to lessen, diminish, reduce, curtail, become smaller or less, decrease, μινυανθής (minyanthēs), blooming a short time, in French mignon, cute, Old French minut, Latin minuta, a small portion or piece, little, small, minute, and English diminution, minute, etc. Homer talks about a small, young, cute orchard, perhaps a domestic garden rather than a professional agricultural property, in this passage. But min also starts μινθόω (minthoō) to besmear with dung, presumably as a fertiliser.

While iny associates with the minute and diminution, the inverse, yni forms ἰνύεσθαι (inyesthai), meaning κοσμεῖν (kosmein), to order, arrange, set an army in array, prepare, adorn, equip, dress, embellish, assign, ascribe to, honour. These sememes are quite the opposite of diminution. In the context of a Minyan (small) orchard, we find the inversion yni in ynis (ὕνις; or ὕννις, ynnis, YNNIS; later ὕννη, ynnē, YNNH), the ploughshare. Continuing the reverse reading, nim forms nimma (νίμμα), water for washing (Enipeus, Tyro's, the strainer's unfulfilled love) and νιμμός (nimmos; NIMMos), washing, cleansing, purification. Again, it is thought that the name of the ploughshare, ynis, derives from ὗς (ys; Homeric σῦς; sys; wild swine, hog, sow) from the hog's nuzzling and rooting. The plough with garden water creates mud, and the pig uses it to wash. If the words were related, ys should have come from ynis, perhaps by contraction, not ynis from ys. But, I believe sys and ys describe the protruding teeth of the animal (see section Structural linguistics and semiotics) and are unrelated to ynis.

Sub-literal semantics of MINY (minute), NIMM (nimma; washing water)

/\/\|/\/\/ miny diminution from /\/\/ to /\/\

/\/|/\/\/\/\ nimm movement (/\/; N) creating waves /\/\/\/\

Semantic postulates for MINYTh (minythō; μινυθω; lessen, diminution; minute)

M   gesture, up-down
I   edge, up, small, thin
N   movement
Y   down, inside, in
Th   turn, twist, rotate, roll

Semantic postulates for MINYTH (minythō; μινυθω; lessen, diminution; minute)

M gesture, up-down

I edge, up, on, small, thin

N movement

Y down, inside, in

T trim, fit, align

H limit, distance, surface, level, repetition, quantity, intensity

Semantic postulates for NIMMA (nimma; νίμμα; washing water)

N   movement
I   arm, edge, handle, up, on, out, small, thin
M   water, wave, gesture, up-down
M   water, wave, gesture, up-down
A   fill, load, content, cover, broad, pipe

Semantic postulates for MYNN (mynnakia; μυννάκια; shoes)

M   up-down
Y   down, inside, in
N   movement
N   movement

Semantic postulates for YNIS (ynis; ὕνις; ploughshare)

Y   deep, down, inside
N   movement
I   arm, edge, handle, up, on, out
S   protrusion, connection

Semantic postulates for YNNH (ynnē; ὕννη; ploughshare)

Y   deep, down, inside
N   movement
N   movement
H   field, surface, level, length, repetition, quantity, intensity

Semantic postulates for YS (ys; ὗς; hog, sow)

Y void, deep, empty, down, inside, in, transverse (mouth, snout)
S protrusion (tooth)

Semantic postulates for SYS (sys; σῦς; hog, sow hog, sow)

S   protrusion (tooth)
Y   void, deep, empty, down, inside, in, transverse (mouth, snout)
S   protrusion (tooth)

Two Homeric personae are attached to the mini-orchard Minyon Orchomenos, i.e., Amphion Iasides (Ἀμφιων Ἰασίδης; amphiōn iasidēs; 'son of Iasios'; Homeric genitive Ἀμφίονος Ἰασίδαο; amphionos iasidao; Hom. Od. 11.283) and his daughter Chloris (Χλῶρις; xlōris; Homeric accusative Χλῶριν; xlōrin; Hom. Od. 11.281). Chloris is, no doubt, a cognate of chlōros (χλωρός), i.e., greenish-yellow, pale green, green, fresh, blooming, unripe. In Modern Greek, xlōris (chloris) means flora, the ensemble of plants of a particular region or habitat. But do xlōris and xlōrin refer to the plants, the fruits, or the flowers of the mini-orchard? Note that Chloris is not the daughter of Orchomenos but of Amphion. An answer to this question should assist in accurately identifying the meaning of Amphion. The inner stem, ōri, makes ὥριος (ōrios), produced in season, fruits of the season, youthful, or fresh flowers. The poetic form ὡραῖος (ōraios) also means beautiful or graceful. Both the nominative, ris, and accusative, rin, endings point to the nose (ῥίς, ῥῖνα; ris, rina), therefore, smell, favouring the flowers. The phrase θαψάτωσαν καὶ τὰ ὥρια αὐτοῦ, καθὼς ἔθος ἐστίν[1], translates to they also buried his ὥρια, as it is customary. It is customary to bury flowers with the dead, not fruits or plants. For these reasons, I believe Amphion's daughter Chloris refers to the fresh flowers from the garden, and Amphion, a flower container. However, I cannot yet exclude the fruit basket.

Amphion has bow handles (IΩ) from both sides (amph); does it? It could be a mobile (N), Ω-shaped (ΩN) basket with fruits or a pot with flowers (sticking out; I) on all sides (amph). It may also be a basket-like container with two bow handles filled with organic material and fitted in a pot (e.g., a tea strainer). Unfortunately, the term Ἴων (Iōn) and its cognates have always been interpreted as ethnonyms (Ionian) and, as such, they are not very helpful. Maybe the Ionians were the gardeners or the herbalists, and the Ionian 'dialect' was just their specialist vocabulary. The word ἰωνιά (iōnia) means violet-bed with particular reference to gillyflower (Matthiola incana; also known in English with the common name stock; Fig. 5), which is widely used as an ornamental plant for summer bedding, as a cut flower, and as an aromatic plant. The term ἴον (ion) is generally used for any flower.

Figure 5. Matthiola incana. Artwork by KENPEI; Creative Commons license.

καὶ Χλῶριν εἶδον περικαλλέα, τήν ποτε Νηλεὺς

γῆμεν ἑὸν διὰ κάλλος, ἐπεὶ πόρε μυρία ἕδνα,

ὁπλοτάτην κούρην Ἀμφίονος Ἰασίδαο,

ὅς ποτ᾽ ἐν Ὀρχομενῷ Μινυείῳ ἶφι ἄνασσεν:

285

ἡ δὲ Πύλου βασίλευε, τέκεν δέ οἱ ἀγλαὰ τέκνα,

Νέστορά τε Χρόνιον τε Περικλύμενόν τ᾽ ἀγέρωχον.

τοῖσι δ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἰφθίμην Πηρὼ τέκε, θαῦμα βροτοῖσι,

τὴν πάντες μνώοντο περικτίται: οὐδ᾽ ἄρα Νηλεὺς

τῷ ἐδίδου ὃς μὴ ἕλικας βόας εὐρυμετώπους

290

ἐκ Φυλάκης ἐλάσειε βίης Ἰφικληείης

ἀργαλέας: τὰς δ᾽ οἶος ὑπέσχετο μάντις ἀμύμων

[Hom. Od. 11.281-291]

Reading Amphiōn backwards, NΩIPhMA, we should expect to find an antonym of the forward reading. The starting inversion, NΩI, νῶϊ (nōi), is mainly the Homeric dual of the personal pronoun, meaning both of us (compare Italian noi; we, us). However, it is also glossed with νόος (noos), mind, prudently, wisely, recall, remember, have sense, be sensible, reason, intellect, thought, meaning, and with νάω (naō), to flow, to be watered. Since Nestor was a grandson of Amphion, he would have inherited some wisdom, memory, and reason to be a wise adviser on the one hand but also a bit foolish on the other. But if NΩI comes from naō and means to be watered, then IΩN could stand for watering and Amphion for a pot with two orifices, top and bottom (amphi). That would give us a watering can.

The Homeric epithet of Amphion, iasidao, consists of two recognisable merged stems, iasi-, from iasis (ἴασις), healing, mode of healing, remedy, cure, treat, recovery, of diseases, and -id, from ἶδος (idos), sweat, warmth, fierce heat, or ἰδίω (idiō), to sweat, of the cold sweat of terror. The phrase ἴδισαν αἱματώδη ἱδρῶτα[2] means they sweated bloody sweat. Among their cognates, ἰδάλιμος (idalimos) means causing sweat, καῦμα (kayma), burning heat, fever heat, used for inflamed conditions. Another mythological personage, Ἴ̂δας (Idas), bears the epithet πύρφορος (pyrforos), fire-burning. Amphion, Iasides was, therefore, hot, causing sweat, and used for therapeutic purposes, particularly in fever. It wasn't a watering pot but a teapot with a double orifice and with Chloris, fresh medicinal herbs from the garden inside. Chloris married Neleus, the filtered water and gave birth to Nestor, Chromius, Periclymenus, and Pero.

Periclymenus (Greek Περικλύμενος; periklymenos) is quite conspicuously the shower tubing. It consists of the prefix περί (peri), roundabout, all round, and κλύσις (klysis), drenching by clyster; clyster being an archaic term for enema, and, I believe, cognate of the cluster, clutter, class, classification, and declination (see section Odysseus). They all refer to groups of distinct objects emerging from the exact origin. Here, the use of SS and TT replacing the Stigma (St) does not conform to my theory about the order (TT) and out-of-order (SS) at first glance. However, it corroborates this hypothesis if we consider clutter as a grouping of heterogeneous things and classification as distinguishing homogeneous things. The declination of the stems cly and peri-cly in Table 3 supports the shower interpretation of Periclymenus, as does the form of the homonymous flower (περικλύμενον; periklymenon; honeysuckle; Fig. 6).

Figure 6. Top: Honeysuckle flowers. Artwork by Bill T from Houston, USA; Creative Commons license. Bottom: Honeysuckle Lonicera etrusca, called περικλύμενον (periclymenos; Plin.HN27.120). Artwork by Franz Xaver; Creative Commons license.

Table 3. An exhaustive list of cognates starting with KLY and PERIKLY from Periclymenus.

KLY
κλύσις	klysis	drenching
κλύσμα	klysma	a liquid used for washing out
κλυσματικόν	klysmatikon	adjective
κλυσμάτιον	klysmation	clyster
κλυσμός	klysmos	a liquid used for washing out
κλυστέον	klysteon	one must wash out
κλυστήρ	klystēr	clyster-pipe, syringe
κλυστηρίδιον	klystēridion	diminutive
κλυστήριον	klystērion	diminutive
PERIKLY
περικλύδην	periklydēn	shower
περικλύμενον	Periklymenon	honeysuckle, Lonicera etrusca
Περικλύμενος	Periklymenon	Periclymenus (son of filter water and herbs)
περίκλυσις	periklysis	spray, douche
περίκλυσμα	periklysma	wash, lotion
περικλυσμός	periklysmos	ablution
περίκλυστος	periklystos	washed all around by the sea
περικλυτός	periklytos	famous, renowned
περικλύζομαι	periklysomai	to be washed all round
περικλύζω	periklizō	wash all round

Figure 7. Pero-binding of a wallet. Artwork by Wolfgang Sauber. Creative Commons license.

There are no cognates of Pero, as it is written in Homer (Πηρὼ; pērō; Hom. Od. 11.287), except πήρωσις (pērōsis) and its derivatives, all of which relate to maiming, disabling in the limbs or senses, essentially disabling movement and mobility. Also, πηρόδετος (pērodetos), meaning 'binding a wallet' with an ἱμάς (imas; leather strap or thong, lash, chin-strap of the helmet, cord, latchet of a sandal, rail-rope, well-rope, dog-leash, whip, scourge), or rather wallet-binding (Fig. 7) since detos (δετός) means that may be bound; πήρα (pēra) means leather pouch for victuals, etc., or wallet; and πήρη (pērē), knapsack, beggar's wallet.

However, the verb περάω (peraō) means to drive right through, pass right across or through space, traverse, frequently of water, and is morphologically and semantically related to περονάω (peronaō), to pierce, transfix, περόνη (peronē) pin, περόνημα (peronēma), garment pinned, περονητήρ (peronētēr), buckle, brooch, περονητίς (peronētis), fastened with a brooch, περόνιον (peronion), small peg, περόσχια (perosxia; ῥάκη; rakē), ragged, tattered garment, a strip of cloth, or the Modern Greek πιρούνι (/piruni/), meaning fork, from περόνιον (peronion; small περόνη; peronē), probably from *pērōnē, with ē (H; /i/) phonetically converted to i, and ō (Ω), to ou (/u/). For example, the binder of an old coin purse requires piercing the leather and passing a string or strip of leather through the pierced holes.

Reverse reading of pērō (Πηρὼ; Pero) gives ὠρη, ōrē as in ὠρημάτων (ōrēmatōn), glossed with φυλαγμάτων (phylagmatōn), protection, precept, commandment, or ὠρητύς (ōrētys), glossed as πήρωσις (pērōsis; as above).

There is a spelling conflict between Χρόνιον (Chronion), appearing in the modern version of the Ancient Greek text (Hom. Od. 11.286), and the translations Chromios (Homer and Butler 1900) or Chromius (Homer and Murray 1919). The Greek version relates to time (χρόνιος; xronios; chronic) and would be challenging to fit the myth. A *Χρῶμιον (xrōmion) version, related to χρῶμα (xrōma), colour, and ἄρωμα (arōma), perfume, aromatic herb or spice, would point to herbal (Chloris) infusion and pigment or essence extraction/retention using wool filters (Neleus).

Figure 8. A16th century illustration of Nestor holding his cup (known as Nestor's cup). Artwork by Andrea Alciato (1584), marked as public domain.

The fourth and most famous child of filtered water (Neleus) and herbs (Chloris) was Νέστωρ Γερήνιος (Nestōr Gerēnios; NESTΩR GERHNIOS), the legendary king of the orifice (Pylos). In the Odyssey, Nestor (Fig. 8) safely returned to Pylos immediately after plundering the market (Troy) with the others. Odysseus's son Telemachus travels to Pylos to inquire about his father's fate. Nestor kindly receives his friend's son and entertains him lavishly but cannot furnish any information on his father's whereabouts. Also appearing in the Odyssey are Nestor's wife, Eurydice, and their remaining living sons, Echephron, Stratius, Aretus, Thrasymedes, and Peisistratus. Nestor also had two daughters, Pisidice and Polycaste.

Homer offers contradictory portrayals of Nestor as a source of advice. On the one hand, he describes him as a wise man repeatedly counselling the Achaeans but in a way that has been claimed anachronistic in Homer's time – for example, arranging the armies by tribes and clans or effectively using chariots in battle (Kirk 1985). At the same time, Nestor's advice is frequently ineffective. Nestor accepts, for example, the dream Zeus plants in Agamemnon without question and urges the Achaeans to battle using spear techniques that, in practice, would be disastrous (Postlethwaite 2000). In Book 11, he gives Patroclus advice that ultimately leads to his death. Yet Nestor is never questioned; instead, he is frequently praised.

In the Iliad, Nestor's advice is always respected by his listeners due to his age and experience but is always tempered with a subtext of humour at his expense due to his boastfulness. He can only deliver advice by spending several paragraphs recounting his heroic actions in the past when faced with similar circumstances.

In the Odyssey, Homer's admiration of Nestor is also tempered by some humour. Telemachus, having returned to Nestor's home from a visit to Helen and Menelaus of Sparta (where he has sought further information on his father's fate), urges Peisistratus to let him board his vessel immediately and return home rather than being subjected to a further dose of Nestor's somewhat overwhelming sense of hospitality. Peisistratus readily agrees, although ruefully, stating that his father will be furious when he learns of Telemachus' departure ("Nestor (Mythology)" 2022).

In the account of Dares the Phrygian, Nestor was illustrated as large, broad and fair. His nose was long and hooked. He was a wise adviser (Dares and Frazer 2017). There is a consensus about the counselling and chat capabilities of the hero. These are also implicit in its name (Table 4). Nestōr has no cognates in Greek apart from its direct derivatives and the word nestoris (νεστορίς), referring to a strange kind of cup. The only English homophone and, I believe, cognate is a nest. If the nestoris cup and nest are cognates of nestōr, the cup must have had the shape or features of a bird's nest.

Table 4. Semantic scan of NESTΩR (Nestor). Meanings are compiled from Liddell and Scott, 1940.

Forward
NESt	νεστορίς English nest	nestoris, a kind of cup (Nestor's cup?)
ESt	ἕστο (ἕννυμι)	clothe oneself in, put on, wear, clad, wrap, shroud oneself in
EStΩ	ἔστω, ἐστώ	one, another, the same, single, unity, alone, substance, essence, stable being, immutable reality
EStΩR	ἕστωρ	peg at the end of the pole, passing through the yoke and having a ring
StΩ	στώμιξ, στωμύλος στῳά (στοά)	wooden beam talkative, chatter, babble, talk, chat roofed colonnade, cloister, long roof or shed, gallery, a communication trench
StΩR	ἵστωρ μήστωρ	a wise man, one who knows right, a judge, knowing adviser, counsellor, skilled assistant to a surgeon
Reverse
RΩSt	English roast ῥῶσταξ ῥωστήρ (σφῦρα) ῥωστικός ῥῶστρον (ἔμβολον)	prolonged exposure to heat in an oven or over a fire stand for putting anything on smasher, hammer, beaten, a destroyer (beetle (kantharos), mallet, balk between the furrows of ploughed land) English roaster strengthening, strong rostrum, the ram of a ship, anything pointed to be easily thrust in, a peg, stopper, tongue of land, brazen beak, ram, wedge-shaped, half a lozenge (wedge), architrave, bolt, bar, graft, portico
RΩStE	ἀρρωστέω εὐρωστέω	to be unwell (in lousy health) to be robust (in good health)
ΩSt	ὠστός ὤστης	human force, thrust, push, rush into, force back, thrust out, banish, push away, one who thrusts or pushes, with one violent shock
ΩStE	ὥστε ὠστέον	so as or for to do a thing, inasmuch as one must thrust out
StE	στέωμεν (στήγανον)	talk idly, babble, prate (a covering, the wrapper of straw, or hides for shielding goods or persons from the weather, Latin segestre)
StEN	στενός στένω στενόω	narrow, a narrow space, narrows, straits, close, confined, driven into a corner, scanty, petty, thin, meagre, distress moan, sigh, groan straiten, confine, contract, have their outlets narrow, be in difficulty
TEN	τένων (τείνω)	sinew, tendon, of the arm, outstretched foot (stretch by force, pull tight, stretch or strain, raise it high, spread, lengthen, hold out, present)

Unfortunately, due to the scarceness of cognates, circular word definitions, and perhaps, errors of orthography or interpretation, the semantic scan of NESTΩR (Table 2) is not very productive. The so-collected sememes resume the mythological description of the personage, emphasising its wise/foolish counselling and advice, while the morphology and function of the object are poorly described. Such lack of clarity may suggest that the object is quite generic, appearing with various forms and functions in different applications.

Figure 9. A 19th-century photograph of a water carrier from Khujand (now in Tajikistan) with his yoke. Artwork by Aleksandr L Kun (1840-1888) marked as public domain.

We must suppose that the ST cluster of Nestor is an archaic Stigma ligature (digraph St) rather than juxtaposed but independent S and T because there is no Greek word starting with NES followed by any letter other than T. By forward reading, we find sememes of clothing and dressing and the notion of uniting parts into a stable, functional whole. In the light of the object's ontology as analysed above, we may think that Nestor, too, is a woollen filter attached to the orifice of a faucet in the Pero fashion (Fig. 7). Faucets almost always had such impromptu filter fittings back in the 1960s when I was young. The stem ESTΩR suggests a ring structure robustly attached to the end of a pole as a peg. This would fit the watering pot perforated head fitted to the watering orifice. The tightness of the tubing makes it challenging to thrust the head in or out. The sememes of wooden beam and yoke, bearing pegs and rings evoke a human yoke or carrying pole (Fig. 9). This also fits the sememes of strength robustness and unity (forward) as well as the sememes of outstretched arms (reverse reading).

Reverse reading reveals sememes of a solid base where things can be put on, forceful thrusting, robustness or health, covering, narrow passage, outlet (brazen beak), or stenosis. The English phonetic equivalents point to a bird's nest (forward) and a brazier or prolonged heating (roaster). The 'beetle' gloss of RΩStHR (ῥωστήρ; rōstēr; roaster; glossed with σφῦρα) may be more sensibly interpreted as κάνθαρος (kantharos), a word meaning beetle as well as a type of large vessel with long curved handles (Fig. 10).

Figure 10. Red-figure Apulian kantharos with a female head, 320–310 BC. Artwork by the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD. Creative Commons license.

Moreover, by replacing a single letter in the list of meanings of Table 2, i.e., from babble to bubble (under StΩ, στωμύλος; stōmylos), things begin to make sense. Bubbling, but not babbling, is associated with boiling and chaotic noise. Boiling is associated with prolonged heating. Prolonged heating is associated with vessels with long raised handles that can safely be handled even when the vessel is hot. Vessels put over a fire on a solid base (rostrum; note the base of the kantharos of Fig. 10) are associated with the fireplace, i.e., an orifice of portico form (Pylos). Vessels for heating water (boilers) are usually large and difficult to handle for dispensing their content. They, therefore, frequently have an outlet with a stopper, such as a faucet. A rostrum is also a brazen beak, a brass tap. These associations lead to the hypothesis that Nestor is the boiler, king of the chimney. There are, however, sememes that are not used in this interpretation and mythemes that do not seem coherent. For example, why would the water boiler (Nestor) be the son of the garden herbs (Chloris)? What does clothing have to do with this story?

Intimately linked with Nestor is his famous cup. It is a cup Nestor brought to Troy (the marketplace; see section Troy) from home (the chimney), and it is one of the very few objects that Homer describes in such detail in the Iliad, another being Achilles' shield. Presumably, Nestor and his cup constitute a single object made of two parts. Understanding the cup is essential for understanding Nestor and vice versa.

πὰρ δὲ δέπας περικαλλές, ὃ οἴκοθεν ἦγ᾽ ὁ γεραιός,

χρυσείοις ἥλοισι πεπαρμένον: οὔατα δ᾽ αὐτοῦ

τέσσαρ᾽ ἔσαν, δοιαὶ δὲ πελειάδες ἀμφὶς ἕκαστον

635

χρύσειαι νεμέθοντο, δύω δ᾽ ὑπὸ πυθμένες ἦσαν.

ἄλλος μὲν μογέων ἀποκινήσασκε τραπέζης

πλεῖον ἐόν, Νέστωρ δ᾽ ὁ γέρων ἀμογητὶ ἄειρεν.

Hom. Il. 11.632-637

There was also a cup of rare workmanship that the old man had brought with him from home, studded with bosses of gold; it had four handles, on each of which there were two golden doves feeding, and it had two feet to stand on. Anyone else would hardly have been able to lift it from the table when it was full, but Nestor could do so quite easily.

(Homer and Butler 1900)

In Modern Greeklish, Nestωρ (Nestor + Νέστωρ) would mean a nester, not as a bird that nests in a particular way, but as an object serving as a nest, providing a nest; in the pattern of εστιάτωρ (estiator; equivalent to French restaurateur, restorer) meaning the owner of a restaurant, a person who provides estia, i.e., meals. Read this way, Nestor would not be any container for boiling water on the fire but a boiler that provides nesting. Then, Nestor's cup might be a nest-like object, or the boiler itself, nesting another object. The association of Nestor with Chloris (herbs) leads to the idea of a tea brewer.

Figure 11. A modern application of the so-called Turkish teapot (Caydanlik). Artwork by Ahmetan at Turkish Wikipedia. Creative Commons license.

The traditional tea brewer in Persia (today, Iran), Armenia, Turkey, Russia, and neighbouring countries consists of two pots. A modern home design is shown in Fig. 11, and a larger classical brewer is in Fig. 12. The lower and larger pot is a boiler placed directly on a heat source. A second smaller pot containing the tea is placed at the upper orifice of the boiler. The steam produced in the boiler keeps the teapot at the right temperature for a perfect tea. Because, however, tea brewing for long tends to be strong; servings are diluted with water from the boiler. Larger boilers are fitted with a faucet since handling a large hot boiler at each serving would be impossible.

Figure 12. A classical Persian tea maker design with a tap exposed in Isfahan, Iran. Artwork by Nevit Dilmen. Creative Commons license.

Of course, the Isfahan model of Fig. 12 is a recent version with a sophisticated design of a samovar type. The Russian samovar probably means self-boiling. These boilers have a complex anatomy, including an internal tube that hosts the burning charcoal or electrical resistance, which provides heat to the boiler. They also include air channels to keep burning, steam valves for overheating, and decorative elements (δέπας περικαλλές; very beautiful beakers; Fig. 13). In some samovar designs, the teapot is not visible because it is wholly embedded (nested) within the boiler. The distance of the boiler from the table surface is regulated by the legs of the samovar, which gives it stability and fire safety. The handles are made of metallic protrusions fitted with a wooden bar. Wood does not transmit heat and remains cool for handling.

Figure 13. Examples of decorative samovars. A: Samovar by Georg Stephan Dorffer, Wurzburg (1771-1824), Mainfränkisches Museum, Würzburg, Germany, marked as public domain. B: Formin samovar in Tula, Russia. Artwork by Benito Bonito; Creative Commons license. C: Russian silver and enamel samovar (late 19th century). Artwork by Ivorymammoth. Creative Commons license. D: Samovar with painting. Artwork by KiriLL, Newspaper "Number One". Marked as public domain.

A traditional tea maker is a double-bottom container with one part nested within the other. This is described in the phrase δύω δ᾽ ὑπὸ πυθμένες ἦσαν (Hom. Il. 11.635) meaning there were two bottoms (of a cup, jar), not two feet to stand on. A traditional teapot, like the one sitting on the samovar of Fig. 12, looks like a bird with a characteristic neck and beak sitting in its nest. The part of the samovar where the teapot is inserted is called a hob. The hob of a cooking or heating apparatus is also known in English as a ring or peg. Hence, the ring and peg sememes of EStΩR in Table 2. Homer calls οὖς (oys) the ear, the hob, not the handle. Indeed, a samovar's hob looks like an ear protruding from a head, though with some imagination and rotation.

If there were any, the pigeons (or doves) were sitting in the samovar's ears (hobs), not on the handles. Herb pieces such as leaves and stems lie at the bottom of the teapot, which makes the analogy of the teapot with nesting more credible and establishes a link between Nestor, as a tea maker, and his mother, Chloris, the herbs. The piercing golden studs (χρυσείοις ἥλοισι πεπαρμένον) are the steam valves.

In the phrase δοιαὶ δὲ πελειάδες, the word δοιαὶ does not mean two but comes from the verb δοιάζω (doiazō), to consider in two ways, be in two minds, hence, have a mind to, imagine. Therefore, the 'doves' (πελειάδες; peleiades) were not figurative but interpretable as such; the objects were dove-like. Besides, the word peleiades contains pel as in Pelias, coloured, muddy water, sediment (as above), eia, as in Pēnelopeia, dirt, dregs (see section Penelope), eleia (ἕλεια), of the marsh or meadow, marsh-water, and iades from ἰάζω (iazō), to be of violet or green colour. Therefore, Homer uses peleiades in a double sense, one superficial (pigeon, dove), the other requiring linguistic analysis: the herbal infusion with its 'dirty' violet or green colour and its sediment, which is the content of an object (teapot) that looks like a dove.

The semantics of Nestor also refer to the cover of the boiler serving to close the container when the teapot is not in its nest (reverse reading; ῥωστήρ; rōstēr; smasher) and to the cloth cover that keeps the teapot hot when removed from the boiler, as in a traditional English tea set. But this is not all about Nestor!

Several sememes are about a narrow space or outlet where a piston of pyramidal/conical shape has to be thrust in/out with difficulty and with a groaning sound like that of an object that creaks or moans when pressure is applied to it. This is probably the stopper of the boiler's faucet. In English, a faucet is called a crane. This is the case of the samovar's faucet in particular (Russian кран; KRAN; cran; Doric κράνα; KRANA; Attic κρήνη; krēn ē; KRHNH). A crane is also an iron arm with horizontal motion, attached to the side or back of a fireplace for supporting kettles etc., over the fire; and, of course, a mechanical lifting machine or device, often used for lifting heavy loads for industrial or construction purposes. Therefore, a crane can lift loads that humans cannot.

Nestor's epithet is Gerēnios (GERHNIOS), and γέρανος (geranos; GERANOS) means crane. The A/H variation has been extensively documented as a Doric/Attic dialectal variation. Gerēnios is a variant or derivative of geranos, as is the case of γερανίας (geranias), also meaning crane. Nestor Gerēnios could be the crane that holds a pot in the fireplace, but since homer gives us the hind of a two-bottom cup, I believe this Nestor is a tap boiler for herb infusion. The mytheme about Nestor, the old-looking curved tap, could lift the whole load of the cup when it was full while nobody could, which means that the closed tap could hold the load inside the boiler while nobody else could even touch the burning thing. Telemachus the bath, son of the water flush (Odysseus) and dirt (Penelope), upset about the absence of his father from the bathroom (Ithaka), went to the tee pot (Nestor) of the chimney (Pylos) to ask if there is any washing water there. The teapot bubbled with a babbling noise. No news! So he followed one of Nestor's sons, Peisistratus, who accompanied him to Menelaus' house at Sparta (see section Menelaus)

Concluding, the marriage of filtered clean water (Neleus) with the herbs (Chloris) of the garden (Orchomenos) was tea, and tea gave birth to the double-vessel apparatus that makes it and keeps it hot. This apparatus was the king of the fireplace (Pylos). Nestor's sense of hospitality bespeaks the conviviality of tea serving at home. One day, the tea maker went to the market (Troy) and became a professional salon de thé. Homer talks about an apparatus with more than one pot ('pigeons'). The sememes of babbling, prating, chattering, babbling, but also those of roofed colonnades, cloisters, long roofs or sheds, galleries, communication trenches, and tents shielding goods and persons from the weather are all about socialising in public tea places around a cup of tea, particularly at the market place (Troy). The tradition still holds in Greece, Europe, and everywhere, though now we prefer coffee (Fig. 14, 15).

Figure 14. Artisti nel Caffè Greco a Roma (Artists at the Café Greco in Rome) by Ludwig Passini, 1856, marked as public domain.

Figure 15. Conversazione al Caffè (Conversation at the Cafe), a painting by Giovanni Boldini, 1877-1878, marked as public domain.

Telemachus left Nestor's place with the king's son Peisistratus, i.e., credit. Peisistratus was a promise to barter the entrance fee, including washing materials and groom service, at Nestor's baths. The price was sufficient to feed an army. But, in reverse reading, the exchange would be on the condition of complete satisfaction, when possible, if at all. (Table 5).

Table 5. Semantic scan of PEISISTRATOS (Peisistratus). Meanings compiled from Liddell and Scott, 1940.

Stem	Cognates	*Transliteration*	Meanings
Forward
PEIS	πείσομαι	peisomai	suffer, persuade
	πείσει (τίνω)	peisei (tinō)	pay the price by way of return or recompense, mainly in a bad sense
	πεῖσμα	peisma	rope, a flock of wool, leaf-stalk, powder
EISI	εἰσι (εἰσοράω)	eisi	look into, look upon, take care, look at or gaze upon steadily,
	εἰσιτός	eisitos	accessible
	εἰσίθμη	eisithmē	entrance
	εἰσιτέον	eisiteon	one must go in
	εἰσίημι	eisiēmi	send into
ISTR	ἰστρίδες	istrides	garment
STRA	στράτωρ	stratōr	groom, Latin strator
	στρατός	stratos	army
TRA	τραπεζόω	trapezoō	offer
ATOS	ἆτος	atos	satiate
Reverse
OTA	ὅταν	otan	whenever
TAR	ταρ	tar	nevertheless
ARS	ἄρσω (ἄρδω, ἀραρίσκω)	arsō (ardō, arariskō)	join, fit, please, satisfy, welcome
ART	ἀρτάω	artaō	fasten, depend upon
	ἄρτι	arti	just, exactly
StIS	στίξ	stiks	row, line, rank or file, esp. of soldiers
	στίζω	stizō	mark, stigma
SIS	σίσυς	sisys	coarse or cheap garment
	σισακικία	sisakikia	Garment ?
SEi	σεῖσις, σείω	seisis, seiō	Shaking, agitating, disturbing
EiP	εἶπον	eipon	Say, order or command one, call
	εἴπερ	eiper	if really, if indeed, even if, even though
	εἴπου	eipoy	if it is anyway possible, whether anywhere, if at all

According to a Wikipedia article citing John Tzetzes (circa 1110 – 1180), Nestor's mother was not Chloris but Polymede (polymēdē; POLYMHDH), although I could not validate this information in Tzetzes, 1873. If this is the case, Nestor did not descend from the teapot with herbs of the garden (Chloris, daughter of Amphion king of Orchomenos), as Homer claims, but directly from a public bath conceived to provide tones of wash-grade water for skin cleansing, at a very high price but neither safe nor pleasant (Table 6). The reverse reading of Polymede seems to suggest that the public funding of the baths gradually deteriorated, but the ending is unclear. Perhaps, after public baths collapsed, people had to find solutions in their kitchens, and the home boiler (Nestor) was born.

Table 6. Semantic scan of POLYMHDH (Polymede). Meanings compiled from Liddell and Scott, 1940.

Stem	Cognates	Transliteration	Meanings
Forward
POLY	πολύ	poly	much, mighty, great, full stream, high price, worth much, long, at a significant interval of space or time
OLY	-ολυ-	oly	top (compare Olympus, Olympia; see section Mount Olympus)
LYM	λῦμα	lyma	water used in washing, or dirt removed by washing, offscourings, pledge, security,
LYMH	λυμη	lymē	outrage, maltreatment, esp. by maiming, insult, mischief, corruption, damage in a financial sense, injury from disease
	λύμην γυμνός	lymēn	naked, unclad, unarmed, stripped of, lightly clad, in the undergarment only
	λυμαίνομαι	lymainomai	cleanse from dirt, of fullers
	ἀπολυμαίνομαι	apolymainomai	cleanse oneself by bathing, especially from pollution; Modern Greek sterilise
YMH	ὑμήν	ymēn	skin
MHD	μῆδος μέδω	mēdos, medō	counsels, plans, arts, with the notion of prudence or cunning, plans of the fight, protect, rule over, provide for, be mindful of, plan, contrive, devise
	μηδέ	mēde	and not, but not, nor, not even, not either
HDH	ἤδη (ἡδύς)	ēdē (ēdys)	already, by this time, now at length, urgent, immediate, further, as well, even now, already (pleasant to the taste, well-pleased, glad, with pleasure)
Reverse
DHM	δῆμος	dēmos	country-district, country, land, the commons, commonalty
	δημόσιος	dēmosios	belonging to the people or state, public, at the public expense, any public building, a public hall
HMY	ἠμύω (ἀμύνω)	emyō (amynō)	bow down, sink, fall, perish, cause to fall, ruin (keep off, ward off, succour, aid, defend)
	ἠμυόεις	ēmyoeis	droop, bend or hang downward limply, decay
MYL	μυλη	mylē	mill, hand-mill, knee-pan, millstone
YLO	ὑλόομαι	yloomai	to be materialised
	ὑλότης	ylotēs	materiality
LOP	λοπάς	lopas	flat dish or plate, frying pan, food preparation, disease of the olive