Anadrome
An anadrome[citation needed] (also emordnilap,[1] semordnilap[2] and levidrome[a]) is a word that has its spelling derived by reversing the spelling of another word. It is therefore a special type of anagram. There is a long history of names being coined as ananyms of existing words or names for entities related to the thing named by this subset of anadromes. Note that a levidrome usually spells another, existing word backwards, e.g. pots vs. stop, while an anadrome results in novel letter sequences, such as Canada yielding Adanac (quite common street name in Canadian cities).
Examples
| Anadrome | Derived from | Explanation | Type | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20461 Dioretsa | asteroid | asteroid with retrograde orbit | astronomy | [6] |
| Livic | civil (engineering) | trade newspaper, "a reflection of Civil Engineering" | work | [7] |
| Rekkof Aircraft | Fokker | Rekkof aircraft are based on Fokker designs. Also Rekkof Restart. Now Fokker Next Gen. | business | [8] |
| Redrum | Murder | Word used in the Stephen King novel The Shining (1977) and its movie adaptation (1980) | Entertainment | [9] |
| yrneh | henry | A unit of measurement for reciprocal electrical inductance. | electricity | |
| daraf | farad | a unit of elastance equal to the reciprocal farad. | electricity | |
| mho | ohm | A unit of electrical conductance which is the reciprocal of an ohm. Now known by its official SI name "siemens" although mho is still sometimes used. | electricity | |
| Trebor | Robert | Source of the names of Trebor confectionery, Robert Trebor, and probably Trebor the composer | name (alias) and product | |
| Trebor and Werdna | Robert [Woodhead] and Andrew [C. Greenberg] | Characters in Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord computer game named after its programmers. | work | |
| Seltaeb | Beatles | Beatles' merchandising company | business | |
| Llareggub | "bugger all" | In Under Milk Wood | work | [2] |
| Harpo Productions | Oprah (Winfrey) | Oprah's media company | business | [2] |
| Senim Silla | "all is mines" | "mines" is AAVE for "mine". | name (alias) | [10] |
| Navi | (Virgil) Ivan (Grissom) | Apollo program joke by Grissom | astronomy | [11] |
| Dnoces | (Edward H. White the) Second | Apollo program joke by Grissom | astronomy | [11] |
| Regor | Roger (Chaffee) | Apollo program joke by Grissom | astronomy | [11] |
| Erewhon | "nowhere" | A utopia and the title of an 1872 novel by Samuel Butler. The digraph <wh> is not reversed. Many names within the book are also ananyms. | work | [2][12] |
| elgooG | reverse-spelling search engine | business | ||
| Xallarap | parallax | Converse microlensing effect | term | |
| Ebbot (Lundberg) | Tobbe | Tobbe is the usual hypocoristic of Torbjörn, his real given name. | name (alias) | |
| 로꾸거 (Rokuko) | 거꾸로 (gokkuro) | Backwards for Korean for "backwards" | work | |
| Xvid | DivX | A competitor | product | |
| Trugoy (The Dove) | yogurt | He likes yogurt | name (alias) | |
| Posdnuos | "Sound-Sop" | High school DJing nickname | name (alias) | |
| MAPS (Mail Abuse Prevention System) | spam | reverse backronym | product | |
| Alucard | Dracula | Borne by various characters derived from Dracula | work | |
| Nimda | admin | The computer worm assumed admin-like powers. | product | |
| Nogard | Dragon | Character in Alan F. Beck art series The Adventures of Nogard & Jackpot | name | [13] |
| Emirp | Prime | An emirp is a prime number that results in a different prime when its digits are reversed. | term | |
| (Coquitlam) Adanac(s) | Canada | Team is Canadian | organization | |
| Nujabes | Jun Seba | His real name | name (alias) | |
| Essiac | Rene Caisse | Its inventor | product | |
| Revilo | Oliver Christianson | His real name | name (alias) | |
| Adanac (Nipissing District, Ontario) | Canada | Location | placename | |
| Airegin | Nigeria | Composer Sonny Rollins is African American | work | |
| Yarg | (Allan and Jenny) Gray | Couple who provided the recipe | product | |
| Soma Records | Amos Heilicher | Owner | business | |
| Nomad (British band) | Damon (Rochefort) | Founder member | organization | |
| Gnip Gnop | ping pong | Reminiscent of the other tabletop game | product | |
| Trebloc, Mississippi | Colbert | Local family, whose name is found in many places; the reversal was "to avoid further repetition". | placename | [14] |
| Nagirroc | Corrigan | Owner's surname | placename | |
| Strebor | Roberts | Founder/owner? | business | |
| Ridan (horse) | Nadir | Named after another horse | name (animal) | |
| Niloak Pottery | kaolin | Material used in products | business | |
| Rellim Farm | (Paul) Miller | Founder | business | |
| Yellek, Ontario | (R. J.) Kelley | Trainmaster at the passing point | placename | |
| Nomar (Garciaparra) | Ramon | His father's name | name | |
| OAT (organizing autonomous telecomms) | TAO (The Anarchy Organization) | reverse backronym of its former name | organization | |
| Kroz | Zork | Homage to older computer game | product | |
| Ani Lorak | Karolina | Her real forename | name (alias) | |
| Sevas Tra | "art saves" | work | ||
| Azed | (Diego) Deza | Crossword compiler named after Spanish inquisitor | name (alias) | [15] |
| Tesremos | (Derrick) Somerset (Macnutt) | His middle name | name (alias) | [16] |
| Sualocin | Nicolaus (Venator) | Niccolò Cacciatore's name (~Nicholas Hunter) Latinized and reversed | astronomy | [17] |
| Rotanev | (Nicolaus) Venator | Niccolò Cacciatore's name (~Nicholas Hunter) Latinized and reversed | astronomy | [17] |
| Senrab (F.C.) | Barnes | After Senrab Street, after Barnes Street | organization | |
| (Neuchâtel) Xamax | Max (Abegglen) | Founder, backwards and forwards | organization | |
| C. W. Ceram | K. W. Marek | Surname Latinised and reversed | name (alias) | [18] |
| Allerednic | Cinderella | A "riches to rags" tale as opposed to Cinderella's rags to riches. Used by Jonathan Gershuny of high-achieving women whose careers stall after marriage.[19] | term | |
| Llamedos | sod 'em all | in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels (modelled on Llaregub) | placename | [20] |
| Esio Trot | tortoise | Children's book by Roald Dahl | work | |
| Nevaeh | Heaven | feminine name | name | |
| Гярб вечнълс (Giarb vechnals) | Слънчев бряг (Slanchev briag, "Sunny Beach") | Bulgarian alphabet ananym | placename | |
| Namyats | [Sam] Stayman | Bridge convention invented by Stayman, who also invented the Stayman convention. | term | [21] |
| Adaven | Nevada | ghost town | placename | |
| Etnaviv | Vivante | open-source driver for Vivante GPU | product | |
| Namor | Roman | Comic book character whose creator wrote down noble-sounding names backwards and thought Roman/Namor looked the best | name | |
| Eivets Rednow | Stevie Wonder | Music album named from its artist | work | |
| Yen Sid | Disney | The powerful sorcerer in Fantasia (1940), whose apprentice Mickey Mouse causes mayhem after borrowing his master's hat. | name | [22] |
| Klim | milk | A brand of powdered milk sold by Nestlé, early ads featuring the slogan "Spell it backwards." | product | [23] |
| Nevar | Raven | The nemesis of the main character, the sorcerer Raven. | work | |
| Rednaxela Terrace, Hong Kong | Alexander | Believed to have been originally named after a Mr. Alexander, who partially owned the street, but reversed due to a clerical error | placename | [24][25] |
| (the Mirror of) Erised |
desire | Its full inscription (mirrored and correctly spaced) reads "I show not your face but your heart’s desire." | name | |
| Nitsuga | Agustín | Pseudonym of Agustín Barrios-Mangoré | name |
Many jazz titles were written by reversing names or nouns: Ecaroh inverts the spelling of its composer Horace Silver's Christian name. Sonny Rollins dedicated to Nigeria a tune called "Airegin".
See also
Notes
- ^ In 2017, a boy from Toronto, Canada coined "levidrome", and there were attempts to get it recognized by Merriam-Webster and Oxford English Dictionary.[3] In 2018, Oxford replied that it is still not ready.[4] As of 2021, it is still being requested.[5]
References
- Room, Adrian (2010-07-26). Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-4373-4. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
- ^ "Is 'Emordnilap' a Real Word?". Snopes. 13 December 2014.
- ^ a b c d updated, Arika Okrent last (April 29, 2014). "9 words created by spelling other words backwards". theweek.
- ^ https://fox4kc.com/news/what-is-a-levidrome-merriam-webster-recognizes-new-word-in-honor-of-little-boy/
- ^ "Latest word on 'levidrome': Oxford says it's not ready, but linguist begs to differ". Times Colonist. October 14, 2018.
- ^ "A Victoria 10-year-old created a word for a linguistic oddity. Over the past four years, it's come to mean so much more". Capital Daily.
- ^ "20461 Dioretsa (1999 LD31)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
- ^ "Livic at three years old". 23 March 2007.
- ^ "Fokker's Back in the Airplane-Building Game - CBS News". CBS News. 10 March 2010.
- ^ Cummings-Grady, Mackenzie Cummings-GradyMackenzie (March 8, 2024). "21 Savage's 'Redrum' Has an Unexpected Origin From a Classic Horror Movie". XXL Mag.
- ^ Crazy Illa Wulf (May 2007). "Senim Silla: return of a star". platform8470. Gistel, Belgium. Archived from the original on 27 August 2008. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
- ^ a b c Harland, David Michael (2007). The first men on the moon: the story of Apollo 11. Springer. p. 136. ISBN 978-0-387-34176-7. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
- ^ Balfour Daniels, R. (Winter 1969). "Names in the Fiction of Samuel Butler (1835-1902)". The South Central Bulletin. 29 (4). Johns Hopkins University Press, South Central Modern Language Association: 129–132. doi:10.2307/3187333. JSTOR 3187333.
- ^ Alan F. Beck, The Adventures of Nogard & Jackpot , 2009. ISBN 978-1449519391
- ^ Phelps, Dawson A.; Edward Hunter Ross (Fall 1952). "Names Please: Place Names along the Natchez Trace" (PDF). The Journal of Mississippi History. 14. Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Mississippi Historical Society: 240. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-10-07. Retrieved 2011-01-15.
- ^ Room (2010), p.40
- ^ Room (2010), p.517
- ^ a b Ridpath, Ian; Tirion, Wil (2007). Stars and planets: the most complete guide to the stars, planets, galaxies, and the solar system. Princeton University Press. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-691-13556-4.
- ^ Room (2010), p.99
- ^ Gershuny, Jonathan (1999). "Time Budgets, Life Histories and Social Position". Quality and Quantity. 33 (3): 277–289. doi:10.1023/A:1004648804214. S2CID 142779389.; Langdon, Julia (13 August 2000). "Cherie Booth: Now you see her, now you don't". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2019-04-23. Retrieved 23 April 2019.; Hay, Hannah Furness (31 May 2013). "Hay Festival 2013: Working women are Cinderella in reverse". Retrieved 23 April 2019.
- ^ "Llamedos - Discworld & Terry Pratchett Wiki".
- ^ "Namyats (4C, 4D, 4H, 4S) - Bridge Bidding Convention". BridgeHands. Petaluma, California. 22 January 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
- ^ Koehler, Dorene (2017). The Mouse and the Myth: Sacred Art and Secular Ritual of Disneyland. Indiana University Press. p. 161.
- ^ Smedley, Emma (1920). The school lunch: its organization and management in Philadelphia. Emma Smedley. p. 171.
- ^ Yanne, Andrew; Heller, Gillis (2009). Signs of a Colonial Era. Hong Kong University Press. p. 143. ISBN 9789622099449.
- ^ "Stories behind Hong Kong street names: Rednaxela Terrace and its famous resident". South China Morning Post. 8 July 2016.
External links
The dictionary definition of anadrome at Wiktionary
