constellate

Pronounced: CON-stuh-late, verb

Notes: I was correct in the origins of the word, but not the meaning

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Yesterday’s word

The word palimpsest is

• writing material (such as a parchment) used after earlier writing has been erased
• something having (usually) diverse layers or aspects

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

Yesterday, I thought I remembered the word from a mystery story; Sherlock Holmes (by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) was on my mind, but I also thought it might be Lord Peter Wimsey (by Dorothy Sayers), as he dealt with old books. I went with the first thought and found I was correct: our word occurs in the story The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez – at the beginning of the story, it says that Holmes is “deciphering the remains of the original inscription upon a palimpsest“. When writing surfaces were rare, they were often re-used. Our word describes a document that was erased to make room for the new document. Such erasing did not entirely eradicate the old writing, so the original writing could still be worked out under the new writing. As Sherlock Holmes remarked, “It is trying work for the eyes.” Our word came from the Latin word palimpsēstus, which came from the Greek word palímpsēstos (rubbed again), which was comprised of pálin (again) and psēstós (scraped; rubbed).