How to make "multi-column" layout in TeX?

Question

TeX

I recently noticed a layout technique in old books. For tables with long and deliberately narrow columns, a "multi-column" layout was used, as it were (apparently to save space).
If it's a "single-column" layout:

A & 1\\
B & 2\\
C & 3\\
D & 4\\

That's what I mean by "multi-column" layout:

A & 1 & C & 3\\
B & 2 & D & 4\\

I would like to know: is it possible to achieve this in TeX without additional table editing? And if so, how?
The supertabular package seems to have helped to achieve some sort of similarity (if you do not remember about the spaces between the columns), but isn't there a more direct way? And then I had problems with the wording of the question, even in Russian.

Answer 1

Here .