Penelope. In Homer's Odyssey, Penelope is the wife of Odysseus, who is known for her fidelity to Odysseus while he was absent, despite having many suitors.
Her name has therefore been traditionally associated with marital fidelity. The origin of her name is believed by Robert S. P. Beekes to be Pre-Greek and related to penelops or penelops, glossed by Hesychius as some kind of bird, where-elops is a common Pre-Greek suffix for predatory animals; however, the semantic relation between the proper name and the gloss is not clear.
In folk etymology, Penelope is usually understood to combine the Greek word pene, weft, and ops, face, which is considered the most appropriate for a cunning weaver whose motivation is hard to decipher. Penelope is the wife of the main character, the king of Ithaca, Odysseus, and daughter of Icarius of Sparta and his wife Periboea.
She only has one son by Odysseus, Telemachus, who was born just before Odysseus was called to fight in the Trojan War. She waits twenty years for the final return of her husband, during which she devises various strategies to delay marrying one of the 108 suitors.
On Odysseus's return, disguised as an old beggar, he finds that Penelope has remained faithful. She has devised tricks to delay her suitors, one of which is to pretend to be weaving a burial shroud for Odysseus's elderly father Laertes and claiming that she will choose a suitor
Her name has therefore been traditionally associated with marital fidelity. The origin of her name is believed by Robert S. P. Beekes to be Pre-Greek and related to penelops or penelops, glossed by Hesychius as some kind of bird, where-elops is a common Pre-Greek suffix for predatory animals; however, the semantic relation between the proper name and the gloss is not clear.
In folk etymology, Penelope is usually understood to combine the Greek word pene, weft, and ops, face, which is considered the most appropriate for a cunning weaver whose motivation is hard to decipher. Penelope is the wife of the main character, the king of Ithaca, Odysseus, and daughter of Icarius of Sparta and his wife Periboea.
She only has one son by Odysseus, Telemachus, who was born just before Odysseus was called to fight in the Trojan War. She waits twenty years for the final return of her husband, during which she devises various strategies to delay marrying one of the 108 suitors.
On Odysseus's return, disguised as an old beggar, he finds that Penelope has remained faithful. She has devised tricks to delay her suitors, one of which is to pretend to be weaving a burial shroud for Odysseus's elderly father Laertes and claiming that she will choose a suitor
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