Palimpsest

Definition: Palimpsest

Palimpsest

Noun

1. A manuscript (usually written on papyrus or parchment) on which more than one text has been written with the earlier writing incompletely erased and still visible.

Date "palimpsest" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1862. (references)

Etymology: Palimpsest \Pal"imp*sest\, noun. [Latin expression palimpsestus, Greek scratched or scraped again, palimpsest; again to rub, rub away: compare to the French expression palimpseste.]. (Websters 1913)

Domain	Definitions
Literature	Palimpsest A parchment on which the original writing has been effaced, and something else has been written. (Greek, palin, again; psao, I rub or efface.) When parchment was not supplied in sufficient quantities, the monks and others used to wash or rub out the writing in a parchment and use it again. As they did not wash or rub it out entirely, many works have been recovered by modern ingenuity. Thus Cicero's De Republica has been restored; it was partially erased to make room for a commentary of St. Augustine on the Psalms. Of course St. Augustine's commentary was first copied, then erased from the parchment, and the original MS. of Cicero made its appearance. "Central Asia is a palimpsest; everywhere actual barbarism overlays a by gone civilisation"- The Times. Source: Brewer's Dictionary.
Mining	Said of a structure or texture of metamorphic rocks in which remnants ofsome pre-existing structure or texture are preserved. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

A palimpsest is a manuscript page, scroll, or book that has been written on, scraped off, and used again. The word palimpsest comes from two Greek roots (palin + psEn) meaning "scraped again." Because parchment is more durable than paper or papyrus, most palimpsests known to modern scholars are parchment -- animal hide used for writing which rose in popularity in western Europe after the 6th century A.D. Also, where papyrus was in common use, reuse of writing media was less common because parchment was more costly, but some papyrus palimpsests do survive.

See Archimedes Palimpsest.

Ancient craters whose relief has disappeared leaving only a "ghost" of a crater are known as palimpsests.

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Substitution	Representative; (deputy); palimpsest.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Palimpsest

Non-English Usage: "Palimpsest" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

German (palimpsest), Romanian (palimpsest), Serbo-Croatian (palimpsest), Swedish (palimpsest).

Domain	Usage
Movie/TV Titles	Palimpsest (1919)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Title	Author	Quote
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	He examined without passion, and with the eye of a linguist decyphering a palimpsest, the portion of chaos which there is yet in nature.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Palimpsest" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 65.22% of the time. "Palimpsest" is used about 23 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	65.22%	15	90,616
Adjective (superlative)	34.78%	8	124,375
Total	100.00%	23	N/A

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "palimpsest"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Arabic		‏الرق الممسوح. (various references)

Bulgarian		палимпсест. (various references)

French		palimpseste. (various references)

German		palimpsest. (various references)

Greek		παλίμψηστο χειρόγραφο. (various references)

Hungarian		újra teleírt pergamen. (various references)

Italian		palinsesto. (various references)

Japanese Kanji		重ね書き�"�羊皮紙 . (various references)

Japanese Katakana		かさねがきようようひし. (various references)

Pig Latin		alimpsestpay.(various references)

Portuguese		páli. (various references)

Romanian		palimpsest. (various references)

Russian		палимпсест. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		palimpsest. (various references)

Spanish		palimpsesto. (various references)

Swedish		palimpsest. (various references)

Turkish		yeniden yazılmış parşömen. (various references)

Ukranian		палімпсест. (various references)

Vietnamese		palimxet, bản viết trên da cừu nạo. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "palimpsest": palimpsests. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Palimpsest" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: palimpesest, palimpest, palimpset, palimpsist, palimsest, pamlipsest, pjalimpsest, psalimpsest. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-e-i-l-m-p-p-s-s-t"
	-2 letters: impastes, misspelt, palmiest, palmists, pastimes, psalmist, sappiest, simplest, stipples.
	-3 letters: aimless, amplest, aplites, applies, espials, impales, impasse, impaste, lapises, lappets, limpest, limpets, lipases, matless, miseats, misseat, misstep, paliest, palmist, palsies, papists, pastels, pasties, pastils, pastime, patsies, petsais, pimples, platies, salties, samiels, samites, samlets, samples, seismal, simples, sippets, spitals, staples, stipels, stipple, talipes, tamises, tapises, tipless, tipples.
	-4 letters: aisles, aplite, appels, apples, emails, espial, impale, impels, islets, istles, lamest, lappet, lapses, lassie, leasts, limpas, limpet, lipase, mailes, maists, maples, mesial, metals, milpas, misate, miseat, missal, missel, misset, palest, palets, papist, passel, passim, pastel, pastes, pastie, pastil, pastis, petals, petsai, pietas, pimple, pipals, pipets, pistes, plaits, plasms, plates, pleats, plisse, psalms, saleps, salmis, saltie, samiel, samite, samlet, sample, sepals, sepias, septal, siesta, simple, sippet, slates, sliest, slimes, slipes, smalti, smalts, smelts, smiles, smites, spails, spaits, spales, spates, speils, spelts, spiels, spiles, spital, spites, splats, splits, stales, stamps, stapes, staple, steals, steams, stelai, stiles, stimes, stipel, stipes, tassel, tassie, tepals, teslas, tipple, tmesis.
	-5 letters: aisle, alist, almes, amies, amiss, ample, appel, apple, apses, apsis, aspis, asset, easts, email, emits, impel, isles, islet, istle, items, lames, lamps, lapis, lapse, lases, lasts, leaps, leapt, least, lepta, limas, limes, limpa, limps, lisps, lists, litas, maile, mails, maist, males, malts, maple, masse, masts, mates, meals, meats, melts, mesas, metal, metis, miles, milpa, milts, mises, mists, mites, pails, paise, pales, palet, palms, palpi, palps, pases, passe, paste, pasts, pates, peals, peats, pelts, pepla, pests, petal, pieta, pilea, piles, pimas, pimps, pipal, pipes, pipet, piste, pitas, plait, plasm, plate, plats, pleas, pleat, plies, psalm, sails, salep, sales, salmi, salps, salts, samps, satem, sates, satis, seals, seams, seats, seism, semis, sepal, sepia, septa, septs, setal, sials, silts, simas, simps, sipes, sisal, sites, slams, slaps, slate, slats, slept, slime, slims, slipe, slips, slipt, slits, smalt, smelt, smile, smite, spaes, spail, spait, spale, spams, spasm, spate, spats, speil, spelt, spiel, spies, spile, spilt, spite, spits, splat, split, stale, stamp, steal, steam, stela, stems, steps, sties, stile, stime, stipe, taels, tails, tales, tames, tamis, tamps, tapes, tapis, tasse, teals, teams, telia, tempi, temps, tepal, tepas, tesla, tiles, times.
	Words containing the letters "a-e-i-l-m-p-p-s-s-t"
	+1 letter: palimpsests.
	+4 letters: amphiprostyles, superdiplomats.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.