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Anagrams
were invented by the Greek poet Lycophon in AD 280. Originally
an anagram was simply a word which, when reversed, formed
another word - for example, ROOM / MOOR or TIDE / EDIT. The
word anagram is derived from Greek, 'ana' meaning backwards
and 'gramma’ meaning a letter.
Anagrams
have been a popular word game throughout history and reached
the height of their popularity in 'Victorian times when it was
fashionable to rearrange the letters of the names of
politicians into appropriate phrases. For example, 'I'm a Whig
who'll be a traitor to England's rule' was an unkind anagram
for 'Right Honorable William Ewart Gladstone' who was elected
British Prime Minister four times in the late 19th
century. Another popular Victorian pastime was that of
arranging well-known proverbs into meaningful sentences. For
example, 'I don't admit women arc faint' is an anagram of
'Time and tide wait for no man'.
Of
particular interest to us, because they are so rare and
because they illustrate the worldwide appeal of anagrams, are
hierograms. These are religious anagrams, normally in Latin;
for example, '0 Mater Dei memento mei'(0h Mother of
God, remember me) is an anagram of 'Amo Demeter enim timeo' (I
love Demeter because I fear her). Demeter is the 'Goddess of
Fruitful Earth' and the Greek equivalent of Isis. The
first sentence is written on the wall of the Tower of the
Prisoners in the castle of Gisers in France. |
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