retroject means to project into the past; to insert anachronistically into a historical reconstruction. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why this word is great
RETROJECT — [Verb] To project or attribute a modern concept, feeling, or value anachronistically into the past. Mid 19th-century; formed within English from the combining form retro- ("backwards") and the verb project (from Latin proicere, "to throw forth"). Unlike "project," which casts plans or images forward, or "anachronize," which neutrally places any object out of its proper time, to retroject is a specific, active casting of the present onto the past. It is the historian imbuing a medieval king with Enlightenment rationality, the critic finding Freudian complexes in Shakespeare’s clowns, or the believer discovering quantum physics in ancient scripture. It is the quiet colonization of history by the present's desperate need to be understood.
verb
- To project into the past; to insert anachronistically into a historical reconstruction.“Rav Sa'adia probably wanted to retroject our prayers and blessings back to the time of the Prophets as part of his polemic with the Karaites who rejected the Oral Torah.”