A palimpsest is a manuscript on which an earlier text has been effaced and the vellum or parchment reused for another. It was a common practice, particularly in medieval ecclesiastical circles, to rub out an earlier piece of writing by means of washing or scraping the manuscript, in order to prepare it for a new text.

Developed in response to the cessation of Egyptian papyrus exports to the region, parchment offered a viable substitute, even if the process of making it was a rather messy one. Traditionally, parchment was made from the split-skin of the sheep. The skins required a great deal of washing, cleaning and scraping.

4th century

A heavily-edited version of an old manuscript is an example of palimpsest. A manuscript or document that has been erased or scraped clean, for reuse of the paper, parchment, vellum, or other medium on which it was written. (archaic) Monumental brasses that have been reused by engraving of the blank back side.

Palimpsest in a Sentence 🔉

1. While the tradition has changed over time, it is still a palimpsest of our family’s history.
2. The town is constantly changing, and as such, it can be viewed as a frequently altered palimpsest.

1 : writing material (such as a parchment or tablet) used one or more times after earlier writing has been erased.

The word “palimpsest” derives from the Latin palimpsestus, which derives from the Ancient Greek παλίμψηστος (palímpsēstos, from παλίν + ψαω = “again” + “scrape”), a compound word that describes the process: “The original writing was scraped and washed off, the surface resmoothed, and the new literary material written …

Palimpsest: 1- “A manuscript or a piece of writing material in which the later writing has been superimposed over deleted previous writing.” 2- “Something reused or altered, but still with visible traces of its former form.” Introducing the Palimpsest concept into the design formula allowed us to look at the structure- …

— palimpsestic, adj. a piece of parchment or vellum from which earlier writing has been erased or scraped off to allow for reuse. — palimpsestic, adj. -Ologies & -Isms.

A palimpsest is a conceptual model of a place as a multilayered structure that emphasizes the coexistence of multiple visions and impacts of different cultures on the landscape.

Once I spotted it, and fell in love with it, palimpsest began popping up everywhere, as a word will sometimes do. Orwell used it as a metaphor in 1984 when describing Big Brother’s way of eliminating memory — “All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and re-inscribed exactly as often as was necessary.”

In the George Orwell book Nineteen Eighty-Four, an Unperson is someone who has been vaporized. Vaporization is when a person is secretly murdered and erased from society, the present, the universe, and existence.

In Physical Geography, a palimpsest landscape is one where, in any given region, the different landforms that make up the landscape are not of the same age, with some surface landforms being very young because they are being shaped at the present time (such as gravel bars within today’s rivers), and other surface …

Winston recalls how he accidentally found a newspaper photo that proves The Party lies. The dated photo proves that the three original leaders of the revolution were in New York City when they were supposed to have been committing treason with Eurasia.

about 60 years old

What does Winston believe is the most DEADLY danger of all? The most deadly danger of all was talking in your sleep.

Winston Smith: Does Big Brother exist? O’Brien: You do not exist.

Big Brother is a fictional character and symbol in George Orwell’s dystopian 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. He is ostensibly the leader of Oceania, a totalitarian state wherein the ruling party, Ingsoc, wields total power “for its own sake” over the inhabitants.