Nemō-land

With regard to land ‘holding’ and the ‘apportionment’ of land we encounter the νέμω (nemō) family of words in various uses closely attached to a sense of ‘possession-use’ or ‘holding’ (as well as indissociably attached to ‘enjoying’, ‘dwelling’, ‘inhabiting’, ‘using’, and, to an extent perhaps, implicating a wider sense of ēthos or ‘way of being’). Once more, I suggest, what we do not meet, at least explicitly, is a ‘juridico-political’ sense. For instance, in Od. 11.185 we read Τηλέμαχος τϵμένϵα νέμϵται (temenea nemetai), where Telemachos is said to possess or ‘hold’ a ‘divided/distributed’ or ‘separated’ temenos. In a related sense, in Il. 12.313 we find καὶ τέμϵνος νϵμόμϵσθα μέγα Ξάνθοιο παρ’ ὄχθας (‘we have received a temenos, a substantial piece of land …’). With particular regard to land, in what is a frequent use, we read, for instance, in Od. 20.336: ὄϕρα σὺ μὲν χαίρων πατρώϊα πάντα νέμηαι; whereby Telemachus and Penelope are told to enjoy the πατρώϊα (patrōia), the paternal, ‘inherited’ land. Further, in the sense of being given one's lot or portion for the purposes of a dwelling, we meet, for example, in Od. 14.210: αὐτὰρ ἐμοὶ μάλα παῦρα δόσαν καὶ οἰκί’ ἔνϵιμαν [eneiman] (‘a small portion was given to me and I was allotted a dwelling’). The sense of ‘occupying’, ‘dwelling in’, or ‘enjoying’ can be observed quite directly in Il. 6.195: καλὸν ϕυταλιῆς καὶ ἀρούρης, ὄϕρα νέμοιτο [nemoito]; here, the Lyceans are said to be ‘distributing-sharing’, but more so perhaps ‘enjoying or occupying’, a ‘fertile parcel of land’; and, further, in Il. 20.8: οὔτ’ ἄρα νυμϕάων αἵ τ’ ἄλσϵα καλὰ νέμονται [nemontai]; where the nymphs are said to ‘dwell’ the forests. Emmanuel Laroche has noted, in this regard, that in the Homeric epics and hymns νέμομαι (nemomai) indicates ‘to live/inhabit’ twice as many times as οἰκὤ (oikō), οἰκέω (oikeō); ‘to live’, ‘to dwell’, ‘to abide’ (1949: 23). It is also worth noting, incidentally, that the servant who most closely serves Penelope and the oikos in the Odyssey, while Odysseus is away, is named – Εὐρυνόμη (Eurynomē).