periplum

1934, in Ezra Pound: "periplum, not as land looks on a map / but as sea board seen by men sailing" [Canto LIX], or as Hugh Kenner described it, "The image of successive discoveries breaking upon the consciousness of the voyager ..., the voyage of discovery among facts, ... contrasted with the conventions and artificialities of the bird's-eye view afforded by the map," from accusative of Latin periplus, in classical use "a written list of the ports and coastal landmarks, in order, with approximate distances between, that a ship's captain could use to navigate a shore."

From Greek periplous, contracted from periploos, literally "a sailing round," from peri (prep.) "around, about, beyond" (from PIE root *per- (1) "forward") + ploos "a sailing, voyage, navigation," from plein "to navigate" (from PIE root *pleu- "to flow").