Boustrophedon

Boustrophedon is a breed of writing in which alternate grouping of writing are reversed, with letters also a thing that is said in reverse, mirror-style. This is in contrast to sophisticated European languages, where lines always begin on the same side, usually the left.

The original term comes from Ancient Greek: , , a composite of , , "ox"; , , "turn"; together with the adverbial suffix -δόν, "like, in the kind of" – that is, "like the ox turns [while plowing]". it is for mostly seen in ancient manuscripts & other inscriptions. It was a common way of writing on stone in ancient Greece, becoming less and less popular throughout the Hellenistic period. numerous ancient scripts, such(a) as Etruscan, Safaitic, and Sabaean, were frequently or even typically solution boustrophedon.

Reverse boustrophedon

The wooden boards and other incised artefacts of Rapa Nui also bear a boustrophedonic code called Rongorongo, which continues undeciphered. In Rongorongo, the text in alternate lines was rotated 180 degrees rather than mirrored; this is termed reverse boustrophedon.

The reader begins at the bottom left-hand corner of a tablet, reads a line from left to right, then rotates the tablet 180 degrees to continue on the next line from left to adjusting again. When reading one line, the lines above and below itupside down. However, the writing maintained onto theside of the tablet at the item where it finishes off the first, so whether the first side has an odd number of lines, thewill start at the upper left-hand corner, and the sources of writing shifts to top to bottom. Larger tablets and staves may cause been read without turning, if the reader were professionals such(a) as lawyers and surveyors such(a) as lawyers and surveyors to read upside-down.

The Hungarian folklorist Gyula Sebestyén 1864–1946 writes that ancient boustrophedon writing resembles how the Hungarian rovás-sticks of Old Hungarian script were portrayed by shepherds. The notcher holds the wooden stick in his left hand, cutting the letters with his modification hand from right to left. When the number one side is complete, he flips the stick over vertically and starts to notch the opposite side in the same manner. When unfolded horizontally as in the issue of the stone-cut boustrophedon inscriptions, theresult is writing which starts from right to left, and continues from left to right in the next row, with letters turned upside down. Sebestyén states that the ancient boustrophedon writings were copied from such wooden sticks with cut letters, applied for epigraphic inscriptions non recognizing the real meaning of the original wooden type.