The Myth of Inkhorns….

“The art of borrowing or adapting words from one

language to another”

In Opposing BorrowingPage : 215 – 217Subtopic : 162

Noor Shazrina Jahabar (175928)

215-219

What is Inkhorn Terms?An Inkhorn Term is any foreign borrowing

(or a word created from existing word roots by an English speaker)

Inkhorn is also called as (Ynkehorne) in the16th

Century

A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language directly, without

translation.

Status of inkhorn in writings

• The borrowing of “inkhorn words” done especially wholesale did not meet with universal flavour = (rich)

• Most of these words sounded strange to the people who objected the use.

Edward Philip’s View…

• Edward Phillips in his books “New World of Words” classified Inkhorn as Hobgoblin (Mythical or Fairytales)

• Hence, some people felt amazed because of these mythical and fairytales words.

• However some readers viewed the inkhorn as a general practice in language and they accept the usage

Elyot’s View…• Elyots, ofter the publication of the book “The Governour”,

stated that some people felt offended with these inkhorn terms because these words are not original of the native tongue.

He classified these people as the “diver men” which could, perhaps, mean – “those who keep away from using these terms”

John Cheke View…

• Sir John Cheke supported the use of inkhorn because he, himself used inkhorn in his classical writings.

• Therefore, he did not see any strangeness in borrowing and adapting words from other languages

Thomas Wilson View…

• Thomas Wilson (1553) in his “Arte of Rhetorique” severely attacked inkhorn words.

According to his writing : the users of inkhorn tend to be outlanders and neglected the use of mother tongue

• Thomas Willson cited examples :The French used French English andThe Italian used Italian EnglishThese are inkhorn to the mother tongue of the French and the Italians

Some examples of words which never made it into the modern language:

• anacephalize: to recapitulate• adnichilate: reduce to nothing, annihilate• exolete: disused, obsolete; effete, insipid; faded• fatigate: to fatigue• illecebrous: alluring, enticing, attractive.• ingent: immense, very great.• obtestate: to bear witness, call upon as witness

In the Defense of BorrowingPage : 218 – 219Subtopic : 163

Enrichment of words…..

• Dryden is with the view that importation of words from another language is a form of enrichment for the native tongue

• Even Latin and Greek languages have borrowed words to enriched themselves

• Hence, some people are with the attitude that borrowing is a natural process in the development of languages

View by Mulcaster

• Mulcaster noted that : an imported word maybe strange in earlier usage but as time of usage moves on and on they become familiar.

• Familiarisation of new words slowly becomes the adopted child-like words to the language community that had adopted the words

George Pettie…

• Pettie also defended Inkhorn Terms.• He stated that : he sees no reasons not to use

inkhorn terms as long as these word are used in minimal manner and they play the role of enriching the native tongue.

View by Bullokar

• Bullokar 1616 said : one should not be afraid to use inkhorn words because strange words bring out the best in a writer.

• To understand Bullokars view better – when the writer uses strange words, the readers feel a surge of interest to read and understand the term more and more

Conclusion….

It is interesting to know that immaterial of writers supporting or apposing the use of inkhorn terms, many of these terms are still in use until today. This is applicable not only to English words but also very noticeably in the Malay words, Indian dialects and Filipino languages, which use words borrowed from English and Spanish.

Thank you….