boustrophedon

See also: boustrophédon

English

WOTD – 13 February 2006

The Forum inscription, a 5th century BCE Latin boustrophedon

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek βουστροφηδόν (boustrophēdón, literally “turning like an ox”), from βοῦς (boûs, “ox”) +‎ στροφή (strophḗ, “turning”) +‎ -ηδόν (-ēdón, adverbial suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌbuːstɹəˈfiːdən/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Adverb

boustrophedon (not comparable)

1. (historical, calligraphy, of writing) In a fashion such that the reading direction changes from right-to-left to left-to-right with each new line.

Adjective

boustrophedon (not comparable)

1. (historical, calligraphy, of writing) Written from right-to-left and left-to-right on alternate lines.
2. (figuratively) Changing direction, going back and forth.

Derived terms

• boustrophedonally

Noun

boustrophedon (countable and uncountable, plural boustrophedons)

1. (historical, calligraphy, of writing) Writing that is right-to-left and left-to-right on alternate lines.
   • 1980, Leslie Threatte, The Grammar of Attic Inscriptions: Phonology‎^[1], page 55:

     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.

   • 2000, Richard Sproat, A Computational Theory of Writing Systems‎^[2], page 61:

     (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).)

   • 2002, Elmer H. Antonsen, Runes and Germanic Linguistics‎^[3], page 132:

     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.

Derived terms

• boustrophedic
• boustrophedonic
• boustrophedonically
• reverse boustrophedon

Related terms

• stoichedon

Translations

writing that is alternately right-to-left and left-to-right

• Arabic: بُطْرُفَة (buṭrufa)
• Catalan: bustrofèdon (ca) m
• Esperanto: plugoskribado, tienreena skribo, bustrofedono
• French: boustrophédon (fr) m
• Hindi: सर्पलेखन (sarpalekhan)
• Japanese: 牛耕式 (ぎゅうこうしき, gyūkōshiki)
• Polish: bustrofedon (pl) m
• Portuguese: bustrofédon (pt) m
• Spanish: bustrófedon (es)
• Swedish: bustrofedon, plogskrift c, oxplöjarskrift c

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek βουστροφηδόν (boustrophēdón).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [bʊstʁofeˈdɔn]
• Hyphenation: bou‧stro‧phe‧don

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

boustrophedon (strong nominative masculine singular boustrophedoner, not comparable)

1. Alternative form of bustrophedon; boustrophedon

Declension

Positive forms of boustrophedon (uncomparable)

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist boustrophedon	sie ist boustrophedon	es ist boustrophedon	sie sind boustrophedon
strong declension (without article)	nominative	boustrophedoner	boustrophedone	boustrophedones	boustrophedone
	genitive	boustrophedonen	boustrophedoner	boustrophedonen	boustrophedoner
	dative	boustrophedonem	boustrophedoner	boustrophedonem	boustrophedonen
	accusative	boustrophedonen	boustrophedone	boustrophedones	boustrophedone
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der boustrophedone	die boustrophedone	das boustrophedone	die boustrophedonen
	genitive	des boustrophedonen	der boustrophedonen	des boustrophedonen	der boustrophedonen
	dative	dem boustrophedonen	der boustrophedonen	dem boustrophedonen	den boustrophedonen
	accusative	den boustrophedonen	die boustrophedone	das boustrophedone	die boustrophedonen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein boustrophedoner	eine boustrophedone	ein boustrophedones	(keine) boustrophedonen
	genitive	eines boustrophedonen	einer boustrophedonen	eines boustrophedonen	(keiner) boustrophedonen
	dative	einem boustrophedonen	einer boustrophedonen	einem boustrophedonen	(keinen) boustrophedonen
	accusative	einen boustrophedonen	eine boustrophedone	ein boustrophedones	(keine) boustrophedonen