βουστροφηδόν

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From βοῦς (boûs, “ox”) +‎ στροφή (strophḗ, “turn”) +‎ -ηδόν (-ēdón, “in the manner of”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /buːs.tro.pʰɛː.dón/ → /βus.tro.ɸiˈðon/ → /vus.tro.fiˈðon/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /buːs.tro.pʰɛː.dón/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /bus.tro.pʰe̝ˈdon/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /βus.tro.ɸiˈðon/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /vus.tro.fiˈðon/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /vus.tro.fiˈðon/

Adverb

βουστροφηδόν • (boustrophēdón)

1. boustrophedon: a manner of writing which alternated between left to right and right to left directions (similar to the back and forth pattern of someone plowing a field with an ox); an intermediate between the inherited right to left direction used by Semitic languages and the left to right direction ultimately used in later Greek.

Related terms

• στοιχηδόν m (stoichidón)

Descendants

• → Catalan: bustrofèdon
• → English: boustrophedon

References

• “βουστροφηδόν”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• βουστροφηδόν in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• βουστροφηδόν in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)