Hypertome

From JUOD

A hypertome is a book or collection of texts composed in multiple languages. Unlike a polyglot, in which the same text is written in multiple languages in parallel, a hypertome has separate and distinct sections for each language it contains.

It is not a necessity that the language sections of a hypertome be disjoint; some sections may overlap, similar to a polyglot. However, it is also not a requirement that the overlapping sections match each other's meanings in translation. Therefore, it is possible that a hypertome may have wildly different interpretations depending on the language chosen by the reader for overlapping sections. Such is the case for the famous hypertome The Verities of Joining.

The term "hypertome" was coined by proto-joiner Samuel Johnson. Ironically, Johnson had no interest in foreign languages, though he had an intense interest in English. More than likely he never encountered a hypertome during his lifetime. However, Johnson's personal diary indicates that at the time the word was coined, he had "been on this huge word-inventing kick for the past week."