inkhorn

English

Etymology

From Middle English ynkhorn, inkehorn (“small portable vessel, originally made of horn, used to hold ink”), equivalent to ink +‎ horn. Displaced Old English blæchorn, which had the same literal meaning but with the native term for "ink."

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪŋkˌhɔː(ɹ)n/

Noun

inkhorn (plural inkhorns)

1. (archaic) A small portable container, often made of horn, used to carry ink.
   • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v], page 113, column 2:

     Goe good partner, goe get you to Francis Seacole, bid him bring his pen and inkehorne to the Gaole: we are now to examine thoſe men.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 9:2:

     […] and one man among them was clothed with linnen, with a writers inkehorne by his side, and they went in and stood beside the brasen altar.

   • 1837, Thomas Carlyle, chapter V, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume I (The Bastille), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book III (The Parliament of Paris), page 85:

     Men in helmets have divided that, with swords; men in wigs, with quill and inkhorn, to divide it: and even more hateful these latter, if more peaceably; for the wig-method is at once irresistibler and baser.

   • 1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, →OCLC, page 44:

     […] from his pocket the notary drew his papers and inkhorn,
     Wrote with a steady hand the date and the age of the parties,

   • 1851 June – 1852 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, chapter XIV, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly, volume I, Boston, Mass.: John P[unchard] Jewett & Company; Cleveland, Oh.: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, published 20 March 1852, →OCLC, page 219:

     “All right,” said Haley, his face beaming with delight; and pulling out an old inkhorn, he proceeded to fill out a bill of sale, which, in a few moments, he handed to the young man.

   • 1934 October 21, Brooks Atkinson, “Grounding a Mortal Coil”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     When a man of the theatre stirs his inkhorn he is frequently tempted to write a play about the theatre.

2. (used attributively, derogatory, of vocabulary) Pedantic, obscurely scholarly.
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 106, column 2:

     And ere that we will ſuffer ſuch a Prince,
     So kinde a Father of the Common-weale,
     To be diſgraced by an Inke-horne Mate,
     Wee and our Wiues and Children all will fight
     And haue our bodyes ſlaughtred by thy foes.

   • 2018, Jan M. Ziolkowski, The Juggler of Notre Dame and the Medievalizing of Modernity, volume 4, →ISBN, page 144:

     The tale retained its bookish and even inkhorn appeal, since established short-story forms continued to be read, and new ones written.

Derived terms

• inkhornish
• inkhornism
• inkhornize
• inkhorn term / inkhorn word (see also gallipot word (gallipot))

Translations

small portable ink container

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 墨水壺 / 墨水壶 (mòshuǐhú)

• Finnish: mustesarvi
• Galician: tinteiro (gl) m
• Middle English: ynkhorn
• Old English: blæchorn m
• Portuguese: tinteiro (pt) m

as adjective, of vocabulary: pedantic

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: խրթին (hy) (xrtʻin)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 文縐縐的 / 文绉绉的 (zh) (wénzhōuzhōu de), 晦澀的 / 晦涩的 (zh) (huìsè de)

• Finnish: pilkunviilaaja
• German: gekünstelt (de), konstruiert (de)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: pedante (it), pretenzioso (it)
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: presunçoso (pt), pedante (pt)
• Russian: педанти́чный (ru) (pedantíčnyj), мудрёный (ru) (mudrjónyj), зау́мный (ru) (zaúmnyj)
• Spanish: pedante (es), rebuscado (es)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

Middle English

Noun

inkhorn

1. Alternative form of ynkhorn