Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site petsd.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!vax135!petsd!cjh From: cjh@petsd.UUCP (Chris Henrich) Newsgroups: net.nlang Subject: Re: Latin Occult Palindrome Message-ID: <618@petsd.UUCP> Date: Sun, 18-Aug-85 15:42:59 EDT Article-I.D.: petsd.618 Posted: Sun Aug 18 15:42:59 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 20-Aug-85 20:53:21 EDT References: <442@ptsfc.UUCP> Reply-To: cjh@petsd.UUCP (PUT YOUR NAME HERE) Followup-To: net.bizarre Distribution: net Organization: Perkin-Elmer DSG, Tinton Falls, N.J. Lines: 60 Summary: Possible place to start looking [] In article <442@ptsfc.UUCP> rjw@ptsfc.UUCP (Rod Williams) writes: >There has been a spate of palindromes in net.bizarre recently >which got me thinking about one I remember reading about years >ago. It's a Latin phrase, dating from mediaeval times and >apparently loaded with occult significance. If I remember >correctly, it goes like this: > > SATOR > AREPO > TENET > OPERA > ROTAS > >In this format you can see that the palindrome works both >horizontally and vertically. I'm sure that the five words each >with five letters add to the occult value. Does anyone know >what, if anything, it means in English or the significance or >origin of the phrase? >-- > Flatfootedly translated, it "means" "The sower* Arepo holds the wheels by his works." If you think that means much. *As in he who sows grain etc. At that, it isn't very grammatical Latin - the fourth word ought to be "operibus", but this would bust out of the square. And *w*h*o* is Arepo? I think it's a joke, myself. In the same spirit as the constructor of palindromes, some Latin-speaker found this up-down-and-backwards pattern which was pronounceable and almost made sense. Claiming great magical/occult significance is a legitimate extension of the joke. I have seen this "magic square" in print, in a book entitled "Science For The Citizen" by Lancelot Hogben. What it was doing there I don't know, since Mr Hogben professed a fastidious disdain for all things magical, occult, traditional, unscientific, or unutilitarian. My favorite pseudo spell is to intone REX QUID CARGO ANGUS SUBGUM SIBELIUS MUMBO. My favorite palindrome is "Named undenominationally rebel, I rile beryl? La, no! I tan. I'm, O Ned, nude, Man." Regards, Chris -- Full-Name: Christopher J. Henrich UUCP: ..!(cornell | ariel | ukc | houxz)!vax135!petsd!cjh US Mail: MS 313; Perkin-Elmer; 106 Apple St; Tinton Falls, NJ 07724 Phone: (201) 758-7288