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Expression appeared due to worksAncient Greek poet Homer, "Iliad" and "Odyssey." The ancient author resorted to the expression twice, talking about the laughter of the gods, amused over the comic scene, and for the third time, describing how the fans of Penelope laughed, being influenced by the goddess Athena.

Phrase in different languages

A similar phraseology is present inEnglish language. Presumably the expression was borrowed from the German language, which, in turn, came from the French language, where it occurs in "Notes of the Baroness Oberkirch." The work belongs to the year 1780.

The original meaning of the expression

Homer's phraseology, from whichknown expression, is used in a narrower sense. By it is meant only the laughter of the gods or laughter, caused in people by divine power. The expression "Homeric laughter" may lead to the idea that Homer, as an author, often wrote about the funny, and this is nothing more than a delusion about him as a poet of a satirical or ironic. For Homer, it was not peculiar at all to use humor as a literary device. For the author of the ancient Greek epic is also not very characteristic description of the scenes of fun.

Aristotle writes about Homer as a poet of serious style.

Although every kind of stupidity abounds in the Iliad,Homeric madness brings not so much fun as suffering and sorrow. The tragedy follows the heroes of Greece and Troy, and the Homeric "comedy" remains difficult to understand. The hopeless epic of Homer is that rare and valiant case in European literature when the oppressed enemy does not cause laughter. Rare cases of describing comic episodes act on a general tragic background and only emphasize the drama and bitterness of narrated events. In those rare cases when it comes to laughter, it's an unhealthy and unhappy laugh. Particularly characteristic for Homer contemptuous sarcastic laughter, caused by physical handicap. In one of the festive scenes in the Iliad, the laughter of other gods is caused by Hephaestus, known for his limp and playing the part of the cupbearer at a common feast.

In legends and myths of Ancient Greece, the smith god often appears as a comic figure, a clown. But Hephaestus Homer is not grotesque and is not a laughingstock.

Another case that caused the laughter of the gods was awkwardThe situation in which Aphrodite and Ares turned out to be left alone, but exposed by Hephaestus. Frightened and overwhelmed with a sense of guilt, the couple, caught in a trap deftly spaced by the skillful master and husband of Aphrodite, causes other Olympic gods to loudly laugh. But Homer himself notes that he is not funny. When Homer mentions the laughter of Penelope's fans, he again uses the expression that has become famous. This is the scene in which disguised as a beggar Odysseus fights with a heavy man, a kind of local "errand boy" Irom. This entertainment, sent down by the goddess Athena, causes an explosion of uncontrollable laughter in the crowd of suitors. In this laughter there is cruelty, because the defeated Ir is beating the earth with his heels. This is the most ominous laugh of all described by Homer. In its original meaning, the expression "Homeric laughter" contains a contradiction, because Homer was far from humor. Only in time it acquired its modern meaning.