Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

Palindrome (Gr. palin dromo, to run back again): 

A word or line which reads backwards and forwards alike, as Madam, also Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor.

They had also been called Sotadics, from their reputed inventor, Sotades, a scurrilous Greek poet of the 3rd century B.C.

Probably the longest palindrome in English

Dog as a devil deified Deified lived as a god —

and another well known is Napoleon's reputed saying —

Able was I ere I saw Elba.

A good palindrome is attributed to Adam who thus introduced himself to Eve:

Madam, I'm Adam.

The following Greek palindrome is very celebrated:—

NIΨONANOMHMATAMHMONANOΨIN (Wash my transgressions, not only my face).

It appears as the legend round many fonts.

The legend round the font at St. Mary’s, Nottingham.

Also on the font in the basilica of St. Sophia, Constantinople; also on the font of St. Stephen d’Egres, Paris; at St. Menin’s Abbey, Orléans; at Dulwich College; and at the following churches: Worlingsworth (Suffolk), Harlow (Essex), Knapton (Norfolk), Melton Mowbray (it has been removed to a neighbouring hamlet), St. Martin’s Ludgate (London), and Hadleigh (Suffolk).

(See Ingram: Churches of London. vol. ii.; Malcolm: Londinum Redivivum, vol. iv. p. 356; Allen: London, vol. iii. p. 530.)

It is said that when Napoleon was asked whether he could have invaded England, he answered „Able was I ere I saw Elba.“

Ebenezer Cobham Brewer. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.

Brewer's Dictionary 

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, sometimes referred to simply as Brewer's, is a reference work containing definitions and explanations of many famous phrases, allusions, and figures, whether historical or mythical.

Originally published in 1870 by Cassell, Petter & Galpin and written by the Reverend E. Cobham Brewer, it was aimed at the growing number of people who wanted to understand the origins of phrases and historical or literary allusions, but did not have a university education.

A "New Edition revised, corrected, and enlarged" of 1440 pages was published by the author in 1895, not long before he died. Since then, it has been continually republished; in revised and updated editions.

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

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