boustrophedon
/ˌbuːstɹəˈfiːdən/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.15 in modern English
21
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
4
Syllables
11
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Text written such that its direction alternates on each line, resulting in a continuous stream of characters spanning multiple lines; frequently also involving the corresponding alternation of letter directionality using mirrored letters, indicating the direction of the text at any given point.
Countable; Uncountable
adj
Synonym of boustrophedonic (“written as a boustrophedon”).
adv
Synonym of boustrophedonically (“as a boustrophedon or in a boustrophedonic manner”).
Example Sentences
- "The number of Attic boustrophedon texts is fairly small; most of those just cited have been brought down by the experts to a date close to 550 B.C., a date to which several texts of more than one line inscribed left to right may also be assigned (cf. pp.56—57 infra), besides the four-line retrograde sep. mon. of Pediarchus cited in the previous section (cf. p.52 supra). Stone texts only really become numerous in Attica about 550, and by this time it is clear that left-to-right writing is just as common as boustrophedon, and may have been so even earlier.[…]After 540 boustrophedon was certainly unusual."
- "(Venetic apparently had both kinds of boustrophedon, either flipping the face of the characters when switching direction or else inverting them (Lejeune, 1974, pages 180-181).)"
- "He draws a sharp distinction between true boustrophedon, which has the tops of the runes pointed in the same direction, but with a change in the direction of writing with each line, and false boustrophedon, which changes from upright to inverted runes with each line, but the lines themselves are each written in the same direction."
Etymology
PIE word *gʷṓws Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws Proto-Hellenic *gʷous Ancient Greek βοῦς (boûs) Proto-Indo-European *strebʰ-der. Ancient Greek στρέφω (stréphō) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-ā́ Ancient Greek -ᾱ (-ā) Ancient Greek -η (-ē) Ancient Greek στροφή (strophḗ) Ancient Greek -ηδόν (-ēdón) Ancient Greek βουστροφηδόν (boustrophēdón)lbor. English boustrophedon Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek βουστροφηδόν (boustrophēdón, adverb, literally “turning like an ox”), from βοῦς (boûs, “ox”) + στροφή (strophḗ, “turning”) + -ηδόν (-ēdón, adverbial suffix), in reference to the back-and-forth course traced by boustrophedon text resembling the path taken by an ox ploughing a field.
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
boustrophedal
boustrophedic
boustrophedical
boustrophedically
boustrophedonal
boustrophedonally
boustrophedonic
boustrophedonical
boustrophedonically