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WonderLanguage fact

A palindrome is a word or phrase that reads the same forwards and backwards, like 'level' or 'never odd or even'.

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The story behind the card

The English word was introduced by the writer Henry Peacham in 1638, from the Greek palin, 'back' or 'again', and dromos, 'running' or 'course'. Palindromes are far older: the Latin Sator square, a block of five words that reads the same in several directions, was scratched on a wall at Pompeii before AD 79. Many languages have a favourite; Turkish has 'Ey Edip Adana'da pide ye', 'Hey Edip, eat pide in Adana'. Two whole palindromic novels have been published in English, and mathematicians study palindromic numbers such as 121 and 12321.

Türkçe oku
Palindrom, düzden de tersten de aynı okunan sözcük ya da cümledir: “kabak” ya da “Ey Edip Adana'da pide ye” gibi.

İngilizcedeki “palindrome” sözcüğünü 1638'de yazar Henry Peacham kullanmaya başladı. Sözcük, Yunanca “geri, yeniden” anlamındaki palin ile “koşu, yol” anlamındaki dromos'tan gelir. Palindromlar ise çok daha eskidir. Beş Latince sözcükten oluşan ve birkaç yönden aynı okunan Sator karesi, MS 79'dan önce Pompeii'de bir duvara kazınmıştı. İngilizcede “level” sözcüğü ve “never odd or even” (asla tek ya da çift değil) cümlesi en bilinen örneklerdendir. İngilizcede baştan sona palindrom olan iki roman bile yayımlandı. Matematikçiler de 121 ya da 12321 gibi iki yönden aynı okunan sayıları inceler.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Palindrome
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