Transcript 'Ink-Horn' - 1066 - The Making of Modern English

‘The
Ink-Horn
Controversy’
By Alice Pugh
The Origins Of “Ink-Horn”
‘The man that hadde an enk-horn in his rigge (belt)’
This is from Wycliffe's translation of the bible, it is a very
early use of Ink Horn, used to describe the container used
to hold ink in.
The term was then taken and adapted by those against
the ‘ornate’ French words found in more and more English
writings. These words became known as ‘ink-horn’ terms
as they used up or wasted lots of ink.
Chaucer is believed to be one of the first to
use foreign terms, in the 1300’s, through the
use of his characters. However it is believed
to be a mockery of English people and their
use of Spanish, French and Latin terms as the
characters often mispronounce the terms or
they don’t make sense.
The Influence of French
Many romance words can still be found to be used in English today:
•Dieu et mon droit
•Haute-Couture
•Art Nouveau
•Ballet
•Chic
•Equestrian
• One reason for these new words is due to the inter-marriage and
therefore bilingual children between French and English families.
•Another reason is the semantic gap said to be in the English language,
writers and expressive aristocrats were looking for more description
and ways of using language.
•These words used in England can be found in the written form more
extensively during the Early modern English period.
The Influence of Latin
•Latin had less of a bad reputation probably due to its religious
connections and how early the language had been used in England.
•Latin words were found to be incorporated in the English language
more as exploration, and international trade increased. New
products, foods, animals, plants never seen before had to be given a
name they either kept the name of the donor language or the Latin
came in handy, as did the other classic Greek.
•Although the Romance (Latin and French) word stock rose
and became half of the English language by the 1450’s the
other half of Germanic origin didn’t disappear.
•When looking at the language people speak today this is still
seen to be true as although we have very many Latin and
French words not many people in the spoken form of English
(the colloquial) would call a foxglove Digitalis Purpurea.
The Influence of the Suffix
Many new words included in the ‘ink-horn’ debate had been
created through the use of added Suffixes.
The expansion of English in this way came from using Latin and
Greek words and expanding them this happened gradually
throughout the early modern period and onwards.
Examples:
Absurdity
Appropriate
Climax
Commemorate
Emancipate
Encyclopedia
Relaxation
Relevant
Two-thirds of the new words that entered the English language
in this way ended in –ate.
Two Stylistic Levels
Extreme
Elaborate
Formal
Aristocracy and the well educated
Used more Romance words
Every Day
Popular
Informal
“normal folk” – reading and writing less, using
the language to communicate, would have had
less contact with rich French merchants lawyers
scientists and academics.
Kept vocabulary of Germanic origin.
Shakespeare
References to the class difference due to language and the
difference in French or Latin words to older English ones can be
found in Shakespeare.
Loves Labours Lost:
Act 1, Scene 1
FERDINAND: Ay, that there is. Our court, you know, is haunted With a refined
traveller of Spain; A man in all the world's new fashion planted, That hath a mint
of phrases in his brain; One whom the music of his own vain tongue Doth ravish
like enchanting harmony; A man of complements, whom right and wrong Have
chose as umpire of their mutiny: This child of fancy, that Armado hight, For interim
to our studies shall relate In high-born words the worth of many a knight From
tawny Spain lost in the world's debate. How you delight, my lords, I know not, I;
But, I protest, I love to hear him lie And I will use him for my minstrelsy.
BIRON: Armado is a most illustrious wight, A man of fire-new words, fashion's own
knight.
Faux Pas or a Linguists Dream?
One guy called Thomas Wilson (1524-1581) wrote ‘The Arte of Rhetorique’
(1553).
He thoroughly opposed these longer non-English words. He questioned why we as a
nation did not keep our own language, he had more purist ideas on what English should
be. The quote below is taken form ‘The Arte of Rhetorique’:
Among all other lessons this should first be learned, that
wee never affect any straunge ynkehorne termes, but to
speake as it is commonly received: neither seeking to be
over fine, nor yet living overcarelesse, using our speeche as
most men doe, and ordering our wittes as the fewest have
done. Some seeke so far for outlandish English, that they
forget altogether their mothers language. And I deare
sweare this, if some of their mothers are alive, thei were
not able to tell what they say; and yet these fine English
clerkes will say, they speake in their mother tongue, if a
man should charge them for counterfeiting the Kings
English.
Others
felt differently about the loan words including
George Pettie who thought that the ‘ink-horn’ terms were
necessary to make the English language more exciting and
interesting:
Wherefore I marueile how our english tongue hath crackt it
credite, that it may not borrow of the Latine as well as other
tongues: and if it haue broken, it is but if late, for it is not
vnknowen to all men how many woordes we haue fetcht
from thence within these fewe veeres, which if they should
be all counted inkpot termes, I know not how we should
speake anything without blacking our mouthes with inke: for
what woord can be more plaine then this word plaine, and
yet what can come more neere to the Latine?
George Pettie (Preface to The Ciuile conuersation of M. Steeuen
Guazzo, 1581)
Summary…
The Ink-horn controversy in the early modern English era is a debate
between expanding the language or holding onto the middle English
era. Before the huge increase in French and other foreign words in
England there had been English and Latin. English slowly was
beginning to become as prestigious and ‘fancy’ as Latin with longer and
more descriptive terms. The use of a suffix and all these new terms
gave English writers a much broader palette to work with. Many
would argue that for this reason the change in the language was
inevitable, especially when considering Latin how many would have
known the language and would have wanted to take advantage of it.
The ‘ink-horn’ terms used are not all still around today but the
influence writers experimenting with French and Latin have had has
allowed the English language to grow and give us many more words to
use and express ourselves with.
Bibliography
Books
The Stories of English, David Crystal (Chapter 12 )
A History of English, Barbara A. Fennell
Sociolinguistics, R. A. Hudson
Internet Sites
1066 and all that:
www.1066andallthat.com
EHistLing website:
http://www.ehistling-pub.meotod.de/01_lec00.php
University of Glasgow, School of English and Scottish
Language and Literature :
http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/englishlanguage/resea
rch/researchprojects/wordwebs/unit3/