BOUSTROPHEDON
Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 11:25 pm
• boustrophedon •
Pronunciation: bus-trê-fee-dên • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: The style of an ancient method of writing used by the Hittites, Greeks, and others in which the lines are written alternately from left to right then right to left. Early impact-type computer printers often had boustrophedonic heads that moved left to right, then right to left to increase speed.
Notes: In the 2000 US federal elections, the (in)famous butterfly ballots used in Florida, that listed candidates on facing pages, were called by some boustrophedonic, the adjective for this really Good Word. The metaphor does not quite work but those who know today's word would make the connection. The adverb is boustrophedonically "in a back and forth pattern."
In Play: The adjective from today's word is probably used most widely, "We carried out a very careful boustrophedonic search and found nothing." Systematic searches often follow a boustrophedon. As today's image shows, heating elements and cooling coils are often boustrophedonic, and boustrophedonic ribbon candy is not at all rare.
Word History: Today's Good Word comes from Greek boustrophedon "turning like an ox (while plowing)," a compound containing bous "ox" + strophe "a turning." The Proto-Indo-European root gwou- "cow, bull, ox" came down to English as cow, to Hindi as gaya (Sanskrit gauh), and shows up in Russian govyadina "beef." In Greek it converted to bous, which we also find in boubalos "buffalo." Strophe comes from the Greek verb strephein "to turn" and is a relative of English strap from Latin stroppus "twisted cord." (Today's word was suggested by Chris Scholl, who once delivered the mail here in Lewisburg boustrophedonically.)
Pronunciation: bus-trê-fee-dên • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: The style of an ancient method of writing used by the Hittites, Greeks, and others in which the lines are written alternately from left to right then right to left. Early impact-type computer printers often had boustrophedonic heads that moved left to right, then right to left to increase speed.
Notes: In the 2000 US federal elections, the (in)famous butterfly ballots used in Florida, that listed candidates on facing pages, were called by some boustrophedonic, the adjective for this really Good Word. The metaphor does not quite work but those who know today's word would make the connection. The adverb is boustrophedonically "in a back and forth pattern."
In Play: The adjective from today's word is probably used most widely, "We carried out a very careful boustrophedonic search and found nothing." Systematic searches often follow a boustrophedon. As today's image shows, heating elements and cooling coils are often boustrophedonic, and boustrophedonic ribbon candy is not at all rare.
Word History: Today's Good Word comes from Greek boustrophedon "turning like an ox (while plowing)," a compound containing bous "ox" + strophe "a turning." The Proto-Indo-European root gwou- "cow, bull, ox" came down to English as cow, to Hindi as gaya (Sanskrit gauh), and shows up in Russian govyadina "beef." In Greek it converted to bous, which we also find in boubalos "buffalo." Strophe comes from the Greek verb strephein "to turn" and is a relative of English strap from Latin stroppus "twisted cord." (Today's word was suggested by Chris Scholl, who once delivered the mail here in Lewisburg boustrophedonically.)
