boustrophedons

Noun

boustrophedon (countable and uncountable, plural boustrophedons)

1. Text written such that its direction alternates on each line, resulting in a continuous stream of characters spanning multiple lines; frequently also involving the corresponding alternation of letter directionality using mirrored letters, indicating the direction of the text at any given point.
   • The number of Attic boustrophedon texts is fairly small; most of those just cited have been brought down by the experts to a date close to 550 B.C., a date to which several texts of more than one line inscribed left to right may also be assigned (cf. pp.56—57 infra), besides the four-line...1980, Leslie Threatte, The Grammar of Attic Inscriptions: Phonology, page 55

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