DIPTYCH

(Gr. S/stto^c*". twofold.) Among the Romans, a tablet of wood, metal, or other substance, used for the purpose of writing, and folded lilce a book of two leaves: when the book consisted of several leaves, it was termed ^oXujttvxov, or manifold. The diptychs of antiquity were employed especially for public registers. The sacred diptyclia of the Greek church were double catalogues, containing on one side names of the living, on the other those of the dead, which were rehearsed during the office. [s. 362]