‘Great fame’ is a natural collocation of words, and there is nothing neces-
sarily poetic about it. However, it is established in Vedic and Greek poetry in
lexically matching forms ––máhi s ́rávah
̇
,μγα κλο–– and may fairly be
considered an inherited formula.^100 In the Maha ̄bha ̄rata we find, with lexical
replacement, phrases such as mahatim
̇
kı ̄rtim (3. 83. 106) or yas ́ah
̇sphı ̄tam
(‘abundant fame’, 3. 120. 19). Old Irish has the bahuvrı ̄hi compound clu-mor,
‘of great fame, renowned’. One cannot put any weight on Latin magna gloria
or Norse mikil frægð (Gísla saga Súrssonar 34).
In illustrating the process of lexical renewal in Chapter 2 I referred to the
Vedic and Greek expressions for ‘wide glory’. Homeric κλο ε1ρ3 would be
best matched by *urú s ́rávah
̇
, and this presumably once existed, since we find
the expanded phrase uruga ̄yám... s ́rávah
̇
‘wide-going glory’ (RV 6. 65. 6)
and later a personal name Urus ́ravas-. But otherwise urú has been replaced in
this collocation by pr
̇
thú, the cognate of Greek πλατ3:pr
̇thú s ́rávah
̇(1. 9. 7; 7.- 8), and as a name Pr
̇
thus ́rávas- (1. 116. 21; 8. 46. 21, 24), analogous to Greek
Ε1ρυκλH. It survives in another Vedic compound of similar meaning,
urus ́ám
̇
sa-‘of wide repute’; this has an Old Persian parallel in the title borne
by the royal Benefactors, recorded by Herodotus as orosangai.^101
Caesar (Bell. Gall. 1. 7. 3) mentions an envoy from the Celtic Helvetii whose
name, Verucloetius, probably contains the same elements as *urú s ́ravah
̇
/
κλο ε1ρ3. British clod (*lutom) appears in analogous phrases in heroic
poetry: pellynnic y glot‘far-reaching his fame’ (Y Gododdin 1123; Canu
Llywarch 1. 36 = Rowland (1990), 408/471); mab Ywerit clod lydan‘son of
Ywerydd of wide fame’ (Rowland (1990), 462 st. 2b). In Beowulf (18) we find,
with a different noun but the same sense, blæ ̄ ̄d wı ̄de sprang, ‘his glory leapt
wide’.
Less obviously, fame may be characterized as ‘high’, perhaps on the
principle that things high up can be seen from afar. In the Rigveda it is often
br
̇
hát‘high, lofty’ (1. 9. 7 f., 44. 2; 3. 37. 10, etc.), and sometimes várs
̇is
̇t
̇ham
(4. 31. 15; 8. 46. 24) or upamám, ‘the highest’. In Greek we find once κλο
0ψηλο ́ ν (Pind. Pyth. 3. 111) and twice the superlative, 0πρτατον κλο
(Bacchyl. 17. 79; Soph. Phil. 1347). Perhaps more remarkable is the idea of
its reaching up to the sky, which is both Vedic and Homeric: RV 1. 126. 2
diví s ́rávo ajáram a ̄ ́ tata ̄na, ‘he has spread out his unageing fame in heaven’;
- 15 asma ̄ ́kam uttamám
̇
- 15 asma ̄ ́kam uttamám
kr
̇dhi | s ́rávo devés
̇u, Su ̄riya, | várs
̇is
̇t
̇ham
̇dya ̄ ́m
ivopári, ‘make our fame the uppermost among the gods, O Surya, the highest
like the sky above’;MBh. 5. 88. 64 yas ́as ́ ca ̄sya divam
̇
spr
̇s ́et, ‘his fame will reach
heaven’;Il. 8. 192 τH ν ν κλο ο1ραν:ν κει, ‘(Nestor’s shield,) the fame
(^100) Schulze (1966), 258; Schmitt (1967), 77–80 with text references.
(^101) Hdt. 8. 85. 3; Schulze (1966), 258 n. 2; Schmitt (1967), 72–5.
- Mortality and Fame 407