undertext

Text situated below overlying text, such as on a palimpsest.

Noun

  1. Text situated below overlying text, such as on a palimpsest.
    • The problem is that many of the letters in the undertext of the Palimpsest cannot be read, […] - 2007, Reviel Netz & William Noel, The Archimedes Codex: How a Medieval Prayer Book is Revealing the True Genius of...
    • […] Agnes reckoned that for the vellum to have been reused in this fashion, the undertext must date to at least 200 years before the overwriting. - 2009, Janet Soskice, The Sisters of Sinai: How Two Lady Adventurers...
    • He noticed that one of the manuscripts had some ancient Greek “undertext” beneath the religious writing. - 2011, Michael Woods, Mary B. Woods, Ancient Machine Technology: From Wheels to Forges, Twenty-First Century...

Origin

From under + text.

Forms

undertexts