Home > Anagram

The construction of anagrams is an amusement of great antiquity. Jews are often credited with the invention of anagrams, probably because later Hebrew writers, particularly Kabbalists, were fond of it, asserting that "secret mysteries are woven in the numbers of letters." Anagrams were known to the Greeks and also to the Romans, although the known Latin examples of words of more than one syllable are nearly all imperfect.

They were popular throughout Europe during the Middle AgesThe Middle Ages formed the middle period in a schematic division of European history into three 'ages': Classical civilization, the Middle Ages, and Modern Civilization. It is commonly dated from the end of the Western Roman Empire ( 5th century) until th and later, particularly in FranceThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents., where a certain Thomas Billon was appointed "anagrammatist to the king" by Louis XIIILouis XIII ( September 27 1601 May 14 1643) was King of France from 1610 to 1643. Born at the Chateau de Fontainebleau, Louis was the first child of Henri IV and Marie de Medicis. He ascended to the throne at age nine after the assassination of his father. W. Camden (Remains, 7th ed., 1674) defines "Anagrammatisme" as "a dissolution of a name truly written into his letters, as his elements, and a new connection of it by artificial transposition, without addition, subtraction or change of any letter, into different words, making some perfect sense applyable [i.e., applicable] to the person named." DrydenJohn Dryden ( August 19, 1631 May 12, 1700) was an influential British poet and playwright. He was born in a village rectory near Oundle in Northamptonshire and educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was a professional writer th disdainfully called the pastime the "torturing of one poor word ten thousand ways" but many men and women of note have found amusement in it.

A well-known anagram is the change of "Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum" into "Virgo serena, pia, munda et immaculata." Among others are the anagrammatic answer to Pilate's question, "Quid est veritas"—namely, "Est vir qui adest"; and the transposition of " Horatio Nelson" into "Honor est a Nilo"; and of " Florence NightingaleFlorence Nightingale ( May 12, 1820 August 13, 1910) The Lady With The Lamp was the pioneer of modern nursing. Born into a wealthy and well-connected British family in Florence, Italy, she was named after the city of her birth, as was her older sister bor" into "Flit on, cheering angel." James IJames VI of Scotland and I of England (Charles James) ( 19 June 1566 27 March 1625) was a King who ruled over England, Scotland and Ireland, and was the first Sovereign to reign in the three realms simultaneously. He ruled in Scotland as James VI from 24's courtiers discovered in "James Stuart" "a just master," and converted "Charles James Stuart" into "Claimes Arthur's seat." "Eleanor Audeley," wife of Sir John Davies, is said to have been brought before the High Commission in 1634 for extravagances, stimulated by the discovery that her name could be transposed to "Reveale, O Daniel," and to have been laughed out of court by another anagram submitted by the dean of the Arches, "Dame Eleanor Davies," "Never soe mad a ladie."

The pseudonyms adopted by authors are often transposed forms, more or less exact, of their names; thus "Calvinus" becomes "Alcuinus" ( V = U); " Francois Rabelais," "Alcofribas Nasier"; " Edward Gorey," "Ogdred Weary"; " Vladimir Nabokov", "Vivian Darkbloom", "Vivian Bloodmark" or "Dorian Vivalcomb", " Bryan Waller Proctor," "Barry Cornwall, poet"; "Henry Rogers," "R. E. H. Greyson," and so on. It is to be noted that several of these are "imperfect anagrams", letters having been left out in some cases for the sake of easy pronunciation.

"Telliamed," a simple reversal, is the title of a well known work by "De Maillet." One of the most remarkable pseudonyms of this class is the name " Voltaire", which the celebrated philosopher assumed instead of his family name, François Marie Arouet, and which is now generally allowed to be an anagram of "Arouet, l[e] j[eune]", that is, "Arouet the younger." Anagramming may also be used to good effect in farce or parody. A writer might take an unpleasant person he knows, base a character in a book on him/her, and then transpose the letters in the source's name. For example, controversial Isreali Prime Minister Ariel Sharon might be satirized as, say, local greengrocer "Leon A. Shirra". A rather inventive way to avoid a libel lawsuit.

Perhaps the only practical use to which anagrams have been turned is to be found in the transpositions in which some of the astronomers of the 17th century embodied their discoveries with the design apparently of avoiding the risk that, while they were engaged in further verification, the credit of what they had found out might be claimed by others. Thus Galileo announced his discovery that Venus had phases like the Moon in the form, "Haec immatura a me iam frustra leguntur--oy," that is, "Cynthiae figuras aemulatur Mater Amorum." Similarly, when Robert Hooke discovered Hooke's law in 1660, he first published it in anagram form. One might think of this as a primitive example of a cryptographic hash function.

There are also a few "natural" anagrams, English words unconsciously created by switching letters around. The French chaise longue ("long chair") became the English "chaise lounge" by metathesis (transposition of letters and/or sounds). This is an example of folk etymology. It has also been speculated that the English "curd" comes from the Latin crudus ("raw").

What is the most anagrammable name on record? There must be few names as deliciously workable as that of " Augustus de Morgan" who tells that a friend had constructed about 800 on his name (specimens of which are given in his Budget of Paradoxes, p. 82)!