A.Word.A.Day --boustrophedon

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boustrophedon

PRONUNCIATION:

(boo-struh-FEED-n, -FEE-don)

MEANING:

noun: A method of writing in which lines are written alternately in opposite direction, from left to right, and right to left.

ETYMOLOGY:

From boustrophedon, literally ox-turning, referring to the movement of an ox while plowing a field, from Greek bous (ox) and strophe (turning). It's the same strophe that shows up in catastrophe (literally, an overturning) and apostrophe (literally, turning away, referring to the omission of a letter).

NOTES:

In such writing, each letter on the alternate lines was written as in a mirror image or rotated 180 degrees. We still do many things boustrophedonically, such as mowing the lawn, vacuuming the floor, etc. In many computer printers, such as dot-matrix and inkjet, the print head usually moves in the boustrophedon mode (though thankfully doesn't print letters mirrored or rotated).

USAGE:

"Tell me, am I wrong to mock vertigo from summit to abyss, to reveal the world as I see it? To scribe my destiny boustrophedon, from left to right then right to left."
Philippe Petit; To Reach the Clouds: My High Wire Walk Between the Twin Towers; North Point Press; 2002.

See more usage examples of boustrophedon in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

War will never cease until babies begin to come into the world with larger cerebrums and smaller adrenal glands. -H.L. Mencken, writer, editor, and critic (1880-1956)

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