opisthograph
Nov. 11th, 2013 07:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordTheme week: O!
opisthograph (uh-PIS-thuh-graf) - n., a manuscript, scroll, or book having writing on both sides.
A technical word not exactly in common usage. Unfortunately, the opposite word, for having writing on one side, is anopisthograph ... not very imaginative. It's the scroll part of this that interests me -- apparently, that was only done when the contents on the other side were deemed no longer of interest, rather than having a reversible scroll (I was having trouble figuring out how that would even work). Adopted around 1620 from Latin opisthographus, Greek opisthógraphos, from the combining form of ópisthen, behind/at the back + graphos, writing.
---L.
opisthograph (uh-PIS-thuh-graf) - n., a manuscript, scroll, or book having writing on both sides.
A technical word not exactly in common usage. Unfortunately, the opposite word, for having writing on one side, is anopisthograph ... not very imaginative. It's the scroll part of this that interests me -- apparently, that was only done when the contents on the other side were deemed no longer of interest, rather than having a reversible scroll (I was having trouble figuring out how that would even work). Adopted around 1620 from Latin opisthographus, Greek opisthógraphos, from the combining form of ópisthen, behind/at the back + graphos, writing.
---L.
