weather | : | cloudy | |
outside | : | 8°C | |
mood | : | ![]() | okay |
music | : | Rossini - William Tell Overture (The Horsie Song) |
palimpsest \PAL-imp-sest\ noun
: a manuscript, usually of papyrus or parchment, on which more than one text has been written with the earlier writing incompletely erased and still visible.
: a object or place whose older layers or aspects are apparent beneath its surface
Sample Usage:
"The manuscript is a palimpsest consisting of vellum leaves from which the 'fluent and assured script' of the original Archimedes text and 55 diagrams had been washed or scraped off so that the surface could be used for new writings." --Highfield, Roger. "Eureka! Archimedes Text Is To Be Sold At Auction." Daily Telegraph, 03 October 1998.
Etymology
Palimpsest is from Latin palimpsestus, from Greek palimpsestos, "scraped or rubbed again," from palin, "again" + psen, "to rub (away)."
The van Gogh paintings, the city of Pompeii and my bedroom are all palimpsests too. =D