From Latin homēricus (“of or pertaining to Homer; Homeric”), from Ancient Greek Ὁμηρικός (Homērikós), from Ὅμηρος (Hómēros, “Homer”) (possibly from ὅμηρος (hómēros, “hostage”), a nickname) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós, suffix forming relational adjectives) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *-kos (suffix forming relational adjectives)); analysable as Homer + -ic.