Etymology

palimpsest

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Today it means: 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. Full definition →

Latin palimpsēstus ← Ancient Greek παλίμψηστος
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromπαλίμψηστος“scraped again”
  2. Latin · derived frompalimpsēstus
  3. English todaypalimpsest

From Latin palimpsēstus, from Ancient Greek παλίμψηστος (palímpsēstos, “scraped again”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.