Bustrofedon

Bustrófedon.

Ancient Greek text written in bustrofedon.

Bustrófedon, bustrofedon or bustrophedon (in Greek, βουστροφηδόν, from ' ox' and 'turn, turn') designates the type of writing or the way of writing that consists of alternately writing a line from left to right and the next one from right to left or vice versa (popularly, "snake"). It appears in numerous archaic inscriptions, including the Greek or the Hittite.

Etymology

The voice comes from the Latin grave term bustrofēdon (bustrofédon), and this from the Greek acute term βουστροφηδόν (boustrofedón):

• βου (bou) o βοςς (bous): ‘buey’
• στροφ (strofée): ‘Vol’ or ‘giro’, στρ (stréfein): ‘turn’ and
• δον (don): Adverbial suffix.

It refers to the similarity of this way of writing with the trajectory formed in the farmlands with the plow pulled by oxen. Despite the fact that the Greek word is an adverb, in Spanish this word is usually used as part of the adverbial locution «[escrito] en bustrófedon».

Ambiguous stress

The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas maintains that the esdrújula accentuation (“bustrófedon”) arises from the tendency to make many cultured words esdrújula.

Other uses

This term is also sometimes used to describe the motion of certain computer dot matrix printers in which, despite the print head printing in alternately opposite directions, the resulting text does not appear in bustrophedon.

Another example of modern use is the way in which the pieces of human teeth are counted, using a bustrophedon sequence.