Ahve oyu reve heard of Anagrams? Once called the Alchemy of Wit, anagrams have had a fascinating history. Commonly seen in scavenger hunts or scrambled-word exercises today, anagrams are the formation of a new word or phrase through the rearrangement of letters from another word of phrase. Anagrams can be as simple as reversing the word ‘mat’ to ‘tam’ or rearranging the letters in ‘car’ to make ‘arc’.

Although commonly used for leisure today, anagrams have had a riveting past and were extremely popular in the Middle Ages. Scientists were among the well-known users of anagrams in those days. Being unwilling or unready to reveal their discoveries, scientists often used anagrams to obscure their findings.

Galileo, a well-known Italian astronomer, had sent an anagram to his friend for this purpose: Smaismrmilmepoetaleumibunenugttauiras. It was later revealed that the string of letters was: Altissimum planetam tergeminus observasi, which translates to I have observed the most distant of planets to have triple form. (Source)

The Sator square

One of the most recognized anagrams is the Sator Square. A collection of 5, 5-letter words positioned inside a 5 by 5 grid.

The Sator Square

These words form an impressive palindrome (a word that reads the same way when the spelling is reversed) of SATOR AREPO TENET OPERA ROTA. Upon further research on the Sator Square, it was revealed to be an……….anagram. The words PATER NOSTER (Our Father in Latin) is repeated twice and overlaps at the N in the centre.  Since “Our Father” was a phrase commonly used in Judaism at that time, people believe that the Sator Square is related to a passage from the Book of Ezekiel. (Source)

Whether their uses are to conceal, protect, or amuse, their ability to give meaning and purpose to random senseless words make anagrams one of the most fascinating puzzles in history. Although Galileo’s anagram and the Sator Square hold more antiquity and purpose, you never know: perhaps that anagram you saw in a puzzle book was a secret message from the author communicating code words to a spy.

BONUS ANAGRAMS:

Eris toy

Nam utu

Can you figure them out? Post your answers in this google form: https://forms.gle/98V8TYRFr3vMAqec8