(Adapted from The Anagram Dictionary by Michael Curl, Words at Play by O.V. Michaelsen and The Oxford Guide to Word Games by Tony Augarde. Additional information about Lycophron from Zoran Radisavlevic)

The earliest times

According to some historians, anagrams originated in the 3rd century B.C. with the Greek poet Lycophron who lived in Alexandria at the palace of King Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-247 B.C.). In a poem on the siege of Troy entitled Cassandra, Lycophron included anagrams on the names of Ptolemy and his queen, Arsinoë:

• PTOLEMAIOS = APO MELITOS
  (made of honey - an allusion to the king's goodness)
• ARSINOH = ION HRAS
  (Hera's violet)

Other sources suggest that Pythagoras, in the 6th century B.C., used anagrams to discover philosophical meanings. Plato and his followers believed that anagrams revealed divinity and destiny. Alexander the Great dreamed that he had caught a satyr the night before the siege of Tyre. His advisor Aristander told him it was a good omen, because the Greek word for satyr (SaturoV) anagrammed to "Tyre is yours" (Sa TuroV). The city fell the next day.

13th to 15th century

Anagrams were often believed to have mystical or prophetic meaning in Roman and early Christian times. History then mentions little of anagrams until the 13th century A.D., when the Jewish Cabalists again found mystical significance in them.

In the Middle Ages in Europe, anagrams became popular. However, the principal activity of anagrammatists in the Middle Ages was in forming anagrams on religious texts. For example:

• Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum
  [Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee]
  =
  Virgo serena, pia, munda et immaculata
  [Virgin serene, holy, pure and immaculate]
• Quid est veritas?
  [Pilate's words to Jesus, "What is truth?"]
  =
  Est qui vir adest!
  [Jesus' possible reply, "It is the man before you!"]

Many authors anagrammed their names to make pseudonyms. François Rabelais became Alcofribas Nasier, Calvinus became Alcuinus (v and u being interchangeable in Latin), and each wrote abusive anagrams of the other's names.

16th to 18th century

In the , scientists such as Galileo, Huygens and Robert Hooke often recorded their results in anagram form to stake their claim on a discovery and prevent anyone stealing the credit.

In the days of French Royalty, Louis XIII appointed a Royal Anagrammatist, Thomas Billon, to entertain the Court with amusing anagrams of people's names.

19th century

This era bought about the vogue of anagramming the names of famous people. Lewis Carroll gave us:

• Florence Nightingale =
  Flit on, cheering angel.
• Disraeli =
  I lead, sir.
• William Ewart Gladstone =
  Wild agitator means well!

This era also gave us the cognate anagram, where the anagram has some relevance to the original, e.g.

• Astronomer =
  Moon starer.

20th century

The British naturalist, Sir Peter Scott, believed in the existence of the Loch Ness Monster so strongly that in 1978 he gave it a scientific name. Scottish MP Nicholas Fairbairn later anagrammed it:

• Nessiteras rhombopteryx =
  Monster Hoax by Sir Peter S.

Apart from their frequent appearances in cryptic crosswords and puzzles journals, anagrams seem to have gone out of favour in recent decades. We have an archive of famous 19th and 20th century anagrams in our Hall of Fame.

However, with the advent of the Internet and the creation of sophisticated anagram-generating software, this trend has been reversed and the art of anagramming is once again thriving.

For further reading on the history of anagrams: Wikipedia entry on anagrams.

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