The English verb “to hector” means, intransitively, “to play the hector or bully, bluster, or domineer,” or, when it takes a direct object, “to intimidate by bluster or threats, to domineer over; to bully; to bring or force out of or into something by threats or insolence.”

The OED’s earliest usages of these two verbs are documented to the middle of the 17^th Century. In 1661, Hickeringill wrote that his protagonist “need not ventury life nor limb, nor Hector it.” Pepys’ Diary recorded that King Charles II boasted “that he would not be hector’d out of his right and preeminency’s by the King of France.” Accusing the French monarch of hectoring (or bullying) is similar to Swift’s observation of the bossy heroine who was appointed head of household “that she might o’er the Servants hector.”

Hector, as the crown prince of Troy, the son of Priam and Hecuba, bore the fortunes of Troy upon his head. His fate and Troy’s were equivalent. In Homer he bears the responsibility well, commanding the Trojans against the conglomerate Greek expedition. Though his first preference was to pursue peace through diplomacy, failure on that front forced his mighty hand. Hector proved a dynamic force for Troy’s men, withstanding Ajax, working his way singlehandedly to the Greek ships and torching them, and killing Patroclus. Only Achilles could overcome Hector, and that when the gods took sides against Troy.

Hector is western literature’s first fully developed tragic hero. Homer’s Iliad develops Hector’s character in a moving arc that includes the tear-jerking farewell scene with Andromache and Astyanax in book 6 and the pathetic reversal of fortune after Achilles’ best friend dies. Troy, of course, does not fall within the Iliad’s narrative frame; but Hector’s death is tantamount to the end of Priam’s kingdom.

Homer allows a single man to stand so boldly against the forces of Agamemnon and the assembled forces of all the Greeks. The characteristic that defines that man is tied into the verb now used in the English language in a pejorative sense. One who engages in hectoring plays the role of Hector within his contemporary circumstances, be they epic or not.

"hector, v.". OED Online. June 2013. Oxford University Press. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/85355?rskey=gPosvJ&result=2 (accessed July 17, 2013).