παλίνδρομος

Forms

πᾰλῐ́νδρομος (palíndromos) m or f (neuter πᾰλῐ́νδρομον); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from Ancient Greek πάλιν (pálin, “back, again”) + δρόμος (drómos, “running, course”),^[1][2][3] that is, “running back”.^[4][5] The second part is the stem of the verb of running, which the dictionaries cite by its aorist.^[6][7][8] Etymonline traces πάλιν (pálin) to Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to turn, move round”), with /kʷ/ becoming /p/.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest text with the word in the corpora is Lucian's Timon (2nd century AD), where a character is told παλίνδρομος ἄπιθι, “go back the way you came”.^[9][10][11]

Semantic evolution

It is a rare word: GLAUx counts only three examples, all from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.^[10] Besides “running back”, it meant “recurring”, of the waning and waxing moon in the philosopher Secundus and of a grief that returns in an epitaph from Chios.^[9][12] Diogenes Laertius uses it of money paid back, and Sextus Empiricus, figuratively, of what is unstable and uncertain.^[9][13][12]

Ancient writers called verses that read the same in both directions καρκίνος or καρκινωτόν, “crab verse”; a well-known one, νίψον ἀνομήματα μὴ μόναν ὄψιν (“wash your sins, not your face only”), was written round the rims of church vessels.^[14] The modern term palindrome comes from παλίνδρομος and is recorded in English from the 1620s.^[4][14] Modern Greek παλίνδρομος (palíndromos), from the post-classical word, means moving back and forth, and by extension fickle or unsteady.^[15][16]

Timeline

• 2nd century AD – Lucian uses it of going back the way one came.^[9][11]
• 2nd century AD – The philosopher Secundus uses it of the recurring moon.^[9][11]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Sextus Empiricus uses it figuratively for “uncertain”.^[9][11]
• 3rd century AD – Diogenes Laertius uses it of money that comes back.^[9][10][11]
• 1620s – English forms palindrome from it, for a word or line that reads the same backwards.^[4]
• Modern Greek – παλίνδρομος (palíndromos) means moving to and fro, and unsteady.^[16][15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Running back, going back again.^[9][12][7]
2. Recurring, coming round again.^[9][17]
3. Come back, returned (of money paid out).^[9]
4. (figurative) Uncertain, wavering.^[9][13]

Word family

• παλινδρομέω (palindroméō)
• παλινδρομικός (palindromikós)

Related words

• πάλιν (pálin)
• δρόμος (drómos)
• English palindrome

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
3. ^ Τεγόπουλος, Γ.; Φυτράκης, Ε. (1997), Μείζον Ελληνικό Λεξικό, Athens: Αρμονία
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, online ed., https://www.koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
7. ^ a b Woordenboek Grieks/Nederlands (2012–), Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, https://woordenboekgrieks.nl
8. ^ Malhadas, Daisi; Dezotti, Maria Celeste C.; Neves, Maria Helena de Moura, eds. (2006–2010), Dicionário Grego-Português, São Paulo: Ateliê; digital ed. 3 (2022), UNESP Araraquara
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
11. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
12. ^ a b c Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
13. ^ a b Дворецкий, И. Х. (1958), Древнегреческо-русский словарь, Moscow: ГИС
14. ^ a b Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
15. ^ a b Ακαδημία Αθηνών (2014), Χρηστικό Λεξικό της Νεοελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Academy of Athens
16. ^ a b Πολυλεξικό, in the encyclopedia Επιστήμη και Ζωή, Athens
17. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli