/ˌkæt.əˈfræk.sɪs/
noun · etym: noemic-greek · kata- (down, through) + -phrax- (to enclose, fence) · cf. catalogue
the suspicion that a list has been alphabetised twice.
cataphraxis is felt while reading. one cannot quite say what has gone wrong: the order is correct; the entries follow the letters; nothing is missing. and yet the eye trips, returns, reads twice, and remains uncertain whether it has passed this place already. consult the catalogue for known instances; consult the library's preface for those not yet noticed.
cataphraxis is contagious. once accused, a list cannot recover its innocence; one will return to it and find new evidence of repetition that was not there before. compare glossarial doubt.
in a sentence: "i have a cataphraxis about this index — it is too neat twice over."
see also · glossarial footnotelore palinodic catalogue library