Palimpsest
PAL-imp-sest. A writing material (such as a
parchment or tablet) used one or more times after earlier writing has been
erased.
Long ago, writing surfaces were so
rare that they were often used more than once. Palimpsest originally described
an early form of recycling in which an old document was erased to make room for
a new one when parchment ran short. (The word is from the Greek palimpsēstos,
meaning "scraped again.")
Fortunately for modern scholars, the
erasing process wasn't completely effective, so the original could often be
distinguished under the newer writing. De republica, by Roman statesman and
orator Cicero, is one of many documents thus recovered from a palimpsest.
Nowadays, the word palimpsest can refer not only to such a document but to
anything that has multiple layers.
