atrament

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English atrament, from Latin ātrāmentum, from ātrāre (“to blacken”), from āter (“black”). First attested in the 14th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæ.tɹə.mɛnt/

Noun

atrament (countable and uncountable, plural atraments or atramenta)

1. (archaic) Ink or an inklike substance.
2. (figurative, rare) Any particularly black liquid substance.
   • 1908, Théophile Gautier, “King Candaules”, in Lafcadio Hearn, transl., Stories, New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, →OCLC, page 91:

     The irises of those eyes, whose pupils were blacker than atrament, varied singularly in shades of shifting colour.

   • 1927, Reginald Wright Kauffman, “Pursuit” (chapter XXVIII), in Blind Man, New York: Duffield & Company, page 268:

     Everything was lost to sight in that ponderous atrament which precedes the dawn.

   • 1994, Umberto Eco, translated by William Weaver, The Island of the Day Before, New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, →ISBN, page 158:

     Onyx flashed in her hair, and the delicate fabric that revealed, concealing, the outlines of her face and her body had the same silvery atrament of the stars.

Related terms

• atramentaceous
• atramental
• atramentarious
• atramentous

 

Middle English

Alternative forms

• attrament

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin ātrāmentum.

Noun

atrament (plural atraments)

1. ink
2. vitriol

Related terms

• arnement

Descendants

• English: atrament

References

• “atrament, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin ātrāmentum. First attested in 1472.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /atramɛnt/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /atramɛnt/

Noun

atrament m animacy unattested

1. iron sulfate used for making ink
   • 1900 [1472], Józef Rostafiński, editor, Symbola ad historiam naturalem medii aevi = Średniowieczna historya naturalna w Polsce. Ps 2‎^[2], number 50:

     Atramenth atramentum

     [Atrament atramentum]

Descendants

• Masurian: atramént
• Polish: atrament
• Silesian: atramynt

References

• B. Sieradzka-Baziur, Ewa Deptuchowa, Joanna Duska, Mariusz Frodyma, Beata Hejmo, Dorota Janeczko, Katarzyna Jasińska, Krystyna Kajtoch, Joanna Kozioł, Marian Kucała, Dorota Mika, Gabriela Niemiec, Urszula Poprawska, Elżbieta Supranowicz, Ludwika Szelachowska-Winiarzowa, Zofia Wanicowa, Piotr Szpor, Bartłomiej Borek, editors (2011–2015), “atrament”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN

Polish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Polish atrament.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈtra.mɛnt/
• (Middle Polish) IPA^(key): /aˈtra.mɛnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -amɛnt
• Syllabification: a‧tra‧ment

Noun

atrament m inan (related adjective atramentowy)

1. ink (fluid used for writing) [from 17th c.]

   Synonyms: inkaust, (archaic) tusz

2. (Middle Polish, medicine) iron or tin medicinal compound

Declension

Declension of atrament

	singular	plural
nominative	atrament	atramenty
genitive	atramentu	atramentów
dative	atramentowi	atramentom
accusative	atrament	atramenty
instrumental	atramentem	atramentami
locative	atramencie	atramentach
vocative	atramencie	atramenty

Derived terms

nouns

• atrament sympatyczny
• atramentówka

 

verb

• wylać morze atramentu

 

Related terms

adverb

• atramentowo

 

verb

• wylać morze atramentu

 

Further reading

• atrament in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• atrament in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) “atrament”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
• Danuta Lankiewicz (13.10.2014) “ATRAMENT”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century]
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814) “atrament”, in Słownik języka polskiego
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861) “atrament”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1900), “atrament”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 1, Warsaw, page 69

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈatramɛnt/

Noun

atrament m inan (genitive singular atramentu, nominative plural atramenty, genitive plural atramentov, declension pattern of dub)

1. ink (the one used for writing with a pen or a quill)

Declension

Declension of atrament

	singular	plural
nominative	atrament	atramenty
genitive	atramentu	atramentov
dative	atramentu	atramentom
accusative	atrament	atramenty
locative	atramente	atramentoch
instrumental	atramentom	atramentmi

Derived terms

• atramentový
• atramentovo

Further reading

• “atrament”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024