inkhorn term
English
Etymology
From inkhorn + term.
Noun
inkhorn term (plural inkhorn terms)
- An obscure, affectedly or ostentatiously learned or erudite borrowing from another language, especially from Latin or Greek.
- 1553, Thomas Wilson, The Arte of Rhetorique, London, Book 3, p. 86b,
- I knowe them that thynke Rhetorique, to stande wholy vpon darke woordes, and he that can catche an ynke horne terme by the taile, hym thei compt to bee a fine Englishe man, and a good Rhetorician.
- 1958, Harold Whitehall, Introduction to Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language, in Leonard F. Dean and Kenneth G. Wilson (editors), Essays on Language and Usage, New York: Oxford University Press, Second edition, 1963, p. 4,
- Constant reading of Greek and Latin bred a race of Holofernes pedants who preferred the Latin or Greek term to the English term. Their principle in writing was to use Latino-Greek polysyllabics in a Latino-English syntax. Their strange vocabulary—studded with what some critics call “inkhorn” terms—eventually affected English so powerfully that no non-Latinate Englishman could ever hope to read many works in his own language unless he was provided with explanations of elements unfamiliar to him.
- 1553, Thomas Wilson, The Arte of Rhetorique, London, Book 3, p. 86b,
Synonyms
- inkhorn word
Related terms
- inkhornish
- inkhornism
- inkhornize
See also
- dormitive principle
- Graecism
- sesquipedalianism