undertext

English

Etymology

From under +‎ text.

Noun

undertext (plural undertexts)

1. Text situated below overlying text, such as on a palimpsest.
   • 2007, Reviel Netz & William Noel, The Archimedes Codex: How a Medieval Prayer Book is Revealing the True Genius of Antiquity's Greatest Scientist, Da Capo Press (2007), →ISBN, unnamed page:

     The problem is that many of the letters in the undertext of the Palimpsest cannot be read, […]

   • 2009, Janet Soskice, The Sisters of Sinai: How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Hidden Gospels, Knopf, →ISBN, page 125:

     […] Agnes reckoned that for the vellum to have been reused in this fashion, the undertext must date to at least 200 years before the overwriting.

   • 2011, Michael Woods, Mary B. Woods, Ancient Machine Technology: From Wheels to Forges, Twenty-First Century Books, →ISBN, page 81:

     He noticed that one of the manuscripts had some ancient Greek “undertext” beneath the religious writing.