1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Palindrome

PALINDROME (Gr. πάλιν, again, and δρóμος, a course), a verse or sentence which runs the same when read either backwards or forwards. Such is the verse—

Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor;

or

Signa te, signa, temere me tangis et angis;

or

νίψον ἀνομήματα μὴ μόναν ὄψιν.

Some have refined upon the palindrome, and composed verses each word of which is the same read backwards as forwards: for instance, that of Camden—

Odo tenet mulum, madidam mappam tenet Anna,
Anna tenet mappam madidam, mulum tenet Odo.

The following is still more complicated, as reading in four ways—upwards and downwards as well as backwards and forwards:—

S A T O R

A R E P O

T E N E T

O P E R A

R O T A S