E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Pal’indrome (3 syl.).
A word or line which reads backwards and forwards alike, as Madam, also Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor. (Greek, palin dromo, to run back again.) (See SOTADIC.)
1
The following Greek palindrome is very celebrated:—
2
NIΨONANOMHMATAMHMONANOΨIN
(Wash my transgressions, not only my face). The legend round the font at St. Mary’s, Nottingham. Also on the font in the basilica of St. Sophia, Constantinople; also on the font of St. Stephen d’Egres, Paris; at St. Menin’s Abbey, Orléans; at Dulwich College; and at the following churches: Worlingsworth (Suffolk), Harlow (Essex), Knapton (Norfolk), Melton Mowbray (it has been removed to a neighbouring hamlet), St. Martin’s Ludgate (London), and Hadleigh (Suffolk). (See Ingram: Churches of London. vol. ii.; Malcolm: Londinum Redivivum, vol. iv. p. 356; Allen: London, vol. iii. p. 530.)
3
It is said that when Napoleon was asked whether he could have invaded England, he answered “Able was I ere I saw Elba.”
The following Greek palindrome is very celebrated:—
