Dictionary:
bou·stro·phe·don (bū'strə-fēd'n, -fē'dŏn')  |
[From Greek boustrophēdon, turning like an ox while plowing : bous, ox + strophē, a turning (from strephein, to turn).]
boustrophedonic bou·stroph'e·don'ic (-strŏf'ĭ-dŏn'ĭk) adj.| Wordsmith Words: boustrophedon |
(boo-struh-FEED-n, -FEE-don)
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)
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).
AWAD in boustrophedon: wordsmith.org/words/images/boustrophedon-awad.png. An ancient boustrophedon: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gortyn_code. Make your own boustrophedons: www.jellyhedge.com/boustrophedonic.html.
| Hacker Slang: boustrophedon |
[from a Greek word for turning like an ox while plowing] An ancient method of writing using alternate left-to-right and right-to-left lines. This term is actually philologists' techspeak and typesetters' jargon. Erudite hackers use it for an optimization performed by some computer typesetting software and moving-head printers. The adverbial form ‘boustrophedonically’ is also found (hackers purely love constructions like this).
| Classical Literature Companion: boustrophēdon |
boustrophēdon (lit. ‘as the ox turns’), in Greek epigraphy, a term used to describe the script on early Greek inscriptions in which the lines of writing run alternately from right to left and from left to right, as the ox pulls the plough in successive furrows. The letters also are turned round to face the appropriate direction. See also ALPHABET.
| Archaeology Dictionary: boustrophedon |
| Obscure Words: boustrophedonic |
| Wikipedia: Boustrophedon |
Boustrophedon (pronounced /ˌbaʊstrɵˈfiːdən/ or /ˌbuːstroʊˈfiːdən/; from Greek βουστροφηδόν "ox-turning"—that is, turning like oxen in ploughing), is a type of bi-directional text, mostly seen in ancient manuscripts and other inscriptions.[1] Rather than going from left to right as in modern English, or right to left as in Hebrew and Arabic, alternate lines in boustrophedon must be read in opposite directions.
The name is taken from the Greek language. Its etymology is from βούς - bous, "ox" + στρέφειν - strephein, "to turn" (cf. strophe), because the hand of the writer goes back and forth like an ox drawing a plough across a field and turning at the end of each row to return in the opposite direction (i.e., "as the ox ploughs"). It was a common way of writing in stone in Ancient Greece.[2]
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Many ancient scripts, such as Safaitic and Sabaean, were frequently or typically written boustrophedonically, but in Greek it is found most commonly on pre-historic and archaic inscriptions, becoming less and less popular throughout the Hellenistic period.
By analogy, the term may be used in other areas to describe this kind of alternation of motion or writing. For example, it is occasionally used to describe the print head motion of certain dot matrix computer printers. In that case, while the print head moves in opposite directions on alternate lines, the printed text is not in boustrophedon format.[3].
The wooden boards and other incised artifacts of Rapa Nui also bear a boustrophedonic script called Rongorongo, which remains undeciphered. In Rongorongo the text in alternate lines was rotated 180 degrees rather than mirrored; this is termed reverse boustrophedon.
The Egyptian language represented with hieroglyph texts and wall reliefs, is the major hieroglyphic language from antiquity; the only other language that also had a hieroglyph version, was the Luwian language and its hieroglyphic Luwian, read boustrophedon;[4] (most of the language was in cuneiform). Other languages that appear to have 'hieroglyphs' are explained as glyphs that make up a language with "script characters" or sets, (with some characters that are virtually identical to varieties of hieroglyphs).
The Hieroglyphic Luwian is read boustrophedon into the front of animals, or body parts. However unlike Egyptian hieroglyphs with their numerous ideograms and logograms which show an easy directionality, the lineal direction of the text in hieroglyphic Luwian is harder to see.
A modern example of boustrophedonics is the numbering scheme of sections within survey townships in the United States and Canada. In both countries, survey townships are divided into a 6-by-6 grid of 36 sections. In the U.S. Public Land Survey System, Section 1 of a township is in the northeast corner, and the numbering proceeds boustrophedonically until Section 36 is reached in the southeast corner. Canada's Dominion Land Survey also uses boustrophedonic numbering, but starts at the southeast corner.
The term is used by postmen in the United Kingdom to describe street numbering which proceeds serially in one direction then turns back in the other. This is in contrast to the more common method of odd and even numbers on opposite sides of the street.
In art history, it additionally means that you read from bottom left in a series of pictures; as in the stained glass windows at Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.
Another example is the boustrophedon transform, known in mathematics.[5]
Yet another example is the antiparallel structure of DNA. Sense and antisense strands of DNA are commonly written in boustrophedon.
Sometimes computer printers with a typewriter-like moving type head print boustrophedon if set up wrongly.
The constructed language Ithkuil uses a boustrophedon script.
The Atlantean language created by Marc Okrand for Disney’s 2001 film Atlantis: The Lost Empire is written in boustrophedon to recreate the feeling of flowing water.
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Copyrights:
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wordsmith Words. © 2009 Wordsmith.org. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Hacker Slang. The Jargon File. Copyright © 2007. Read more |
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| Classical Literature Companion. The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Copyright © 1993, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Archaeology Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Obscure Words. © 2008 by Michael A. Fischer http://home.comcast.net/~wwftd. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Boustrophedon". Read more |
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