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palimpsest

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Palimpsest is defined as a parchment manuscript that has been modified or changed but that still has traces of its original writing.

(noun)

A heavily-edited version of an old manuscript is an example of palimpsest.

See palimpsest in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

a parchment, tablet, etc. that has been written upon or inscribed two or three times, the previous text or texts having been imperfectly erased and remaining, therefore, still partly visible

Origin: L palimpsestus < Gr palimpsēstos, lit., rubbed again < palin, again (see palindrome) + psēn, to rub smooth < IE base *bhes-, to rub off, pulverize > L sabulum, sand

See palimpsest in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

A manuscript, typically of papyrus or parchment, that has been written on more than once, with the earlier writing incompletely erased and often legible.
An object, place, or area that reflects its history: “Spaniards in the sixteenth century . . . saw an ocean moving south . . . through a palimpsest of bayous and distributary streams in forested paludal basins” (John McPhee).

Origin:

Origin: Latin palimpsēstum

Origin: , from Greek palimpsēston

Origin: , neuter of palimpsēstos, scraped again

Origin: : palin, again; see k^wel-¹ in Indo-European roots

Origin: + psēn, to scrape

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