Editing Palindrome (section)

== Historical development ==
[[File:Sator Square at Oppède.jpg|thumb|right|A [[Sator square]] (in SATOR-form), on a wall in the medieval fortress town of [[Oppède|Oppède-le-Vieux]], France]]
The ancient Greek poet [[Sotades]] (3rd-century BC) invented a form of [[Ionic meter]] called Sotadic or [[Sotadean metre|Sotadean]] verse, which is sometimes said to have been palindromic,<ref name="hbw"/> since it is sometimes possible to make a sotadean line by reversing a dactylic hexameter.<ref>Jan Kwapisz, ''The Paradigm of Simias: Essays on Poetic Eccentricity'', p. 62-68</ref><ref>Alex Preminger, ed., ''Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics'', 1965, {{JSTOR|j.ctt13x0qvn}}, ''s.v.'' 'Sotadean', p. 784</ref><ref>''[[The Century Dictionary]]'', 1889, ''s.v.'' 'Sotadic', p. '''5''':5780. "Sotadic verse... A palindromic verse; so named apparently from some ancient examples of Sotadean verse being palindromic."</ref>

A 1st-century Latin palindrome was found as a graffito at [[Pompeii]]. This palindrome, known as the [[Sator Square]], consists of a sentence written in Latin: ''sator arepo tenet opera rotas'' 'The sower Arepo holds with effort the wheels'. It is also an [[acrostic]] where the first letters of each word form the first word, the second letters form the second word, and so forth. Hence, it can be arranged into a [[word square]] that reads in four different ways: horizontally or vertically from either top left to bottom right or bottom right to top left.  Other palindromes found at Pompeii include "Roma-Olim-Milo-Amor", which is also written as an acrostic square.<ref>{{cite journal | journal=[[Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik]] | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26603971 | first=Megan | last=O'Donald | title=The ROTAS "Wheel": Form and Content in a Pompeian Graffito | pages=77–91 | date=2018 | volume=205 | jstor=26603971 | access-date=10 September 2022 | archive-date=11 September 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220911232432/https://www.jstor.org/stable/26603971 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=MRS>{{cite journal | journal=[[Cryptologia]] | author-link=Rose Mary Sheldon | first=Rose Mary | last=Sheldon | url=https://indexarticles.com/reference/cryptologia/sator-rebus-an-unsolved-cryptogram-the/ | title=The Sator Rebus: An unsolved cryptogram? | pages=233–287 | doi=10.1080/0161-110391891919 | date=2003 | volume=27 | issue=3 | s2cid=218542154 | access-date=10 September 2022 | archive-date=11 September 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220911152421/https://indexarticles.com/reference/cryptologia/sator-rebus-an-unsolved-cryptogram-the/ | url-status=live }}</ref> Indeed, composing palindromes was "a pastime of Roman landed gentry".<ref>{{cite journal | last=Fishwick | first=Duncan | title=An Early Christian Cryptogram? | url=https://www.cchahistory.ca/journal/CCHA1959/Fishwick.pdf | access-date=13 October 2021 | publisher=[[University of Manitoba]] | journal=CCHA | pages=29–41 | volume=26 | date=1959 | archive-date=24 May 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524090014/http://www.cchahistory.ca/journal/CCHA1959/Fishwick.pdf | url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Greek palindrome on the font.jpg|thumb|''Nipson anomēmata mē monan opsin'' palindrome, on a font at [[St Martin, Ludgate]]]]

[[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] [[baptismal font]]s were often inscribed with the 4th-century Greek palindrome, {{lang|grc|ΝΙΨΟΝ ΑΝΟΜΗΜΑΤΑ}} (or {{lang|grc|ΑΝΟΜΗΜΑ}}) {{lang|grc|ΜΗ ΜΟΝΑΝ ΟΨΙΝ}} ("''[[Nipson anomemata me monan opsin|Nipson anomēmata mē monan opsin]]''") 'Wash [your] sin(s), not only [your] face', attributed to [[Gregory of Nazianzus]];<ref name="pepp-pal">Alex Preminger, ed., ''Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics'', 1965, {{JSTOR|j.ctt13x0qvn}}, ''s.v.'' 'palindrome', p. 596</ref> most notably in the basilica of [[Hagia Sophia]] in [[Constantinople]]. The inscription is found on fonts in many churches in Western Europe: <!-- St. Stephen d'Egres, [[Paris]]; -- is this the demolished [[Saint-Étienne-des-Grès, Paris]]? Source?--> [[Orléans]] (St. Menin's Abbey); [[Dulwich College]]; [[Nottingham]] ([[St. Mary's Church, Nottingham|St. Mary's]]); [[Worlingworth]]; [[Harlow]]; [[Knapton]]; [[London]] ([[St Martin, Ludgate]]); and [[Hadleigh, Suffolk|Hadleigh (Suffolk)]].<ref name=Guinness/>

A 12th-century palindrome with the same square property is the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] palindrome, <span class="script-hebrew" style="font-size:145%; font-family:'SBL Hebrew', David, Narkisim, 'Times New Roman', 'Ezra SIL SR', FrankRuehl, 'Microsoft Sans Serif', 'Lucida Grande'" dir="rtl">פרשנו&nbsp;רעבתן&nbsp;שבדבש&nbsp;נתבער&nbsp;ונשרף</span> ''perashnu: ra`avtan shebad'vash nitba`er venisraf''  'We explained the glutton who is in the honey was burned and incinerated', credited in 1924 to the medieval Jewish philosopher [[Abraham ibn Ezra]],<ref>{{cite web | last1= Soclof | first1= Adam | title= Jewish Wordplay | url= http://www.jta.org/2011/12/27/the-archive-blog/jewish-wordplay | website= Jewish Telegraphic Agency | access-date= 21 November 2016 | date= 28 December 2011 | archive-date= 21 November 2016 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161121234936/http://www.jta.org/2011/12/27/the-archive-blog/jewish-wordplay | url-status= live }}</ref>{{Unreliable fringe source|date=December 2023}} and referring to the [[Halacha|halachic]] question as to whether a fly landing in honey makes the honey ''[[Kashrut|treif]]'' (non-kosher).

The palindromic Latin riddle "''In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni''" 'we go in a circle at night and are consumed by fire' describes the behavior of moths. It is likely that this palindrome is from medieval rather than ancient times. The second word, borrowed from Greek, should properly be spelled ''gyrum''.

In English, there are many palindrome ''words'' such as ''eye'', ''madam'', and ''deified'', but English writers generally cited Latin and Greek palindromic sentences in the early 19th century;<ref>S(ilvanus) Urban, "Classical Literature: On Macaronic Poetry", ''[[The Gentleman's Magazine]], or Monthly Intelligencer'', London, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZfdfAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA35 '''100''':part 2:34–36 (New Series '''23''')] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164822/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZfdfAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA35 |date=26 March 2023 }} (July 1830)</ref> though [[John Taylor (poet)|John Taylor]] had coined one in 1614: "Lewd did I live, &amp; evil I did dwel" (with the [[ampersand]] being something of a "fudge"<ref>Richard Lederer, ''The Word Circus: A Letter-perfect Book'', 1998, {{isbn|0877793549}}, p.54</ref>). This is generally considered the first English-language palindrome sentence and was long reputed, notably by the grammarian [[James Harris (grammarian)|James "Hermes" Harris]], to be the ''only'' one, despite many efforts to find others.<ref name="nmm">"On Palindromes"
''[[The New Monthly Magazine]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=vP2YF5SEn9UC&pg=PA172 '''2''':170–173] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164822/https://books.google.com/books?id=vP2YF5SEn9UC&pg=PA172 |date=26 March 2023 }} (July–December 1821)</ref><ref name="gugrof">"Ingenious Arrangement of Words", ''The Gazette of the Union, Golden Rule, and Odd Fellows' Family Companion'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=qSTnAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA30 '''9''':30 (July 8, 1848)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164823/https://books.google.com/books?id=qSTnAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA30 |date=26 March 2023 }}</ref> (Taylor had also composed two other, "rather indifferent", palindromic lines of poetry: "Deer Madam, Reed", "Deem if I meed".<ref name="hbw">H.B. Wheatley, ''Of Anagrams: A Monograph Treating of Their History from the Earliest Ages...'', London, 1862, [https://books.google.com/books?id=DcYDAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA11 p. 9-11] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164823/https://books.google.com/books?id=DcYDAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA11 |date=26 March 2023 }}</ref>) Then in 1848, a certain "J.T.R." coined "Able was I ere I saw Elba", which became famous after it was (implausibly) attributed to [[Napoleon]] (alluding to his exile on Elba).<ref>"Able Was I Ere I Saw Elba", ''Quote Investigator'' [https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/09/15/saw-elba/#note-7218-1 September 15, 2013]</ref><ref name="gugrof"/><ref>{{cite journal |title=Doings in Baltimore |journal=Gazette of the Union, Golden Rule and Odd-fellows' Family Companion |date=July 8, 1848 |volume=9 |issue=2 |page=30}}</ref> Other [[List of English palindromic phrases|well-known English palindromes]] are: "A man, a plan, a canal – Panama" (1948),<ref name="MercerPanama">By Leigh Mercer, published in ''Notes and Queries,'' 13 November 1948, according to ''The Yale Book of Quotations,'' F. R. Shapiro, ed. (2006, {{ISBN|0-300-10798-6}}).</ref> "Madam, I'm Adam" (1861),<ref>''Do you give it up?: A collection of the most amusing conundrums, riddles, etc. of the day'', London, 1861, [https://books.google.com/books?id=tcwBAAAAQAAJ&q=%22madam%20i%20%27m%20adam%22 p. 4] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407122904/https://books.google.com/books?id=tcwBAAAAQAAJ&q=%22madam%20i%20%27m%20adam%22 |date=7 April 2023 }}</ref> and "Never odd or even" (1930).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pryor |first=G.H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j2ZCAQAAIAAJ&q=%22never+odd+or+even%22 |title=Baltimore and Ohio Employes Magazine |date=September 1930 |publisher=Baltimore and Ohio Railroad |pages=60 |language=en |chapter=In the Realm of the Riddle}}</ref>

[[File:Madam-im-adam.jpg|thumb|cartoon using the palindrome "Madam, I'm Adam"]]