Palindrome (Gr. palin, 'backwards,' and dromos, 'a running'), the name given to a kind of verse very common in Latin, the peculiarity of which is that it may be read the same backwards as forwards. A few examples will suffice.
Si bene te tua laus taxat sua lautè tenebis.
Et necat eger amor non Roma rege tacente,
Roma reges una non anus eger amor.
A Greek palindrome, sometimes inscribed on English fonts (e.g. Hadleigh and Worlingworth, in Suffolk), runs: Νίψον ἀνθήμα μη μόναν ὄψιν ('Wash my sin, and not my face only'). A Roman lawyer gets the credit of Si nummi immunis, which Camden translates 'Give me my fee, and I warrant you free.' It is said that in the reign of Queen Elizabeth a certain lady of rank, having been compelled to retire from the court on account of some fama, the truth of which she denied, took for her motto: Ablata at alba, 'Retired but pure.' The English language has few palindromes, but one at least is inimitable. It represents our first parent politely introducing himself to Eve in these words: 'Madam, I'm Adam.' Compare Henry B. Wheatley's book on Anagrams (1862); G. R. Clark, Palindromes (Glasgow, 1887).