…and so-so the movie of Dan, especially the anagram portions, wouldn’t you agree? They were all solved in a matter of seconds! It reminded me of when my wife looks at those MagicEye 3D puzzles and says, “Oh yeah, do you see the sailboat?” and I’m still trying to figure out what color the picture is supposed to be.
It turns out Dan Brown was onto something when he used anagrams as clues in The Da Vinci Code. According to Wikipedia,
Jews are often credited with the invention of anagrams, probably because later Hebrew writers, particularly Kabbalists, were fond of it, asserting that “secret mysteries are woven in the numbers of letters.” Anagrams were known to the Greeks and also to the Romans, although the known Latin examples of words of more than one syllable are nearly all imperfect. The Romans called the art of finding anagrams the “ars magna” (great art). Interestingly, “ars magna” is a perfect anagram of the word “anagrams.”
Furthermore,
Indeed, the right to lampoon royalty and politicians via anagram was enshrined in English law in 1215, when King John, albeit under duress, signed the Magna Carta (Magna Carta = Anagram Act) at Runnymede, in Surrey?W. Camden (Remains, 7th ed., 1674) defines “Anagrammatisme” as “a dissolution of a name truly written into his letters, as his elements, and a new connection of it by artificial transposition, without addition, subtraction or change of any letter, into different words, making some perfect sense applyable (i.e., applicable) to the person named.”
Some interesting anagrams for you to ponder from Anagram Genius, Da Vinci Code anagrams:
“The Da Vinci Code” -> “The candid voice.” (by Frank LaRue using Anagram Genius) (2003)
“The Da Vinci Code” -> “Convicted. Die! Ha!” (by Stanley Accrington by hand) (2006) (pending approval)
“The Da Vinci Code” -> “Addictive con, eh?” (by Mick Tully using Anagram Genius) (2006) (pending approval)
“The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci” -> “Reputable and splotched visionary.” (by Barzin Barry Sabahat using Anagram Genius) (2005)
“Mona Lisa” -> “Mail a son…” (by Shayon using Anagram Genius) (2005) (pending approval)
Some other anagrams for you to ponder:
“Jesus Christ” -> “Chess Jurist.” (by Anantha by hand) (2005) (pending approval)
“Christian” -> “Rich at sin.” (by Joe Fathallah by hand) (2002)
“Christian” -> “Rich saint.” (by unknown by hand)
Anagrams are interesting because they bring new words to the original word, and sometimes they connect. The word “Christian” has various meanings in our culture. How has this word influenced you… what do you think a Christian is?
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