atramentum
atramentum, a black liquid
- I Writing-ink, ink; in Vitr. 7, 10, and Plin. 27, 7, 28, § 52, called atramentum librarium: calamo et atramento temperato, Cic. ad Q. Fr. 2, 15, 6: per atramentum et calamum scribere, Vulg. 3 Joan. 13; Petr. 102, 13; Hor. Ep. 2, 1, 236; Vulg. Jer. 36, 18; ib. 2 Joan. 12.—
- II A black pigment or color, Vitr. 7, 10; 7, 4; Plin. 35, 6, 25, § 41; also a fine, dark varnish, lacquer, id. 35, 10, 36, § 97: Indicum, India or China ink, id. 35, 6, 25, § 43.—
- III A blacking for coloring leather: atramentum sutorium, Plin. 34, 12, 32, § 123; Cic. Fam. 9, 21 fin.—
- IV In comic language: Sc. Unā operā ebur atramento candefacere postulas. Phil. Lepide dictum de atramento atque ebore, i. e. you require something impossible, Plaut. Most. 1, 3, 102 (258).
apices ‥ ~o formati
incaustum vel ~um,blaec
~o caraxamus quae stare firmiter optamus
usi pro calamo stramine et pro attramento sanguine proprio cum urina permixto
contra diaboli surrepciones illicitas calamo et ~o pugnare
signum est quedam figura vilissima ‥ cum arundine et ~o depicta, quam ipse Soldanus ‥ depingit
bleke or blech , attramentum, ‥inke , encaustum, ‥ attramentum
attromenta,blacche
saecularis scoriae ~o foedatos
caccabatum furvae fuliginis ~um exhorruit
libellulum falsae cupiditatis ~o praetitulatum
sicut testamenti sic et scripti auctoritas mortis ~o confirmatur
crasso tenebrarum fuscatus ~o
quid tali hujus ~o aetatis facturus est?
~orum sunt multe species, colcotar, calcadis, vitriolum nigrum, capernum viridis cuperose
~a composita sunt ex sale et sulphure et lapidibus. creditur in eis esse vis mineralis aliquorum liquabilium, que ex eis fiunt, vel chalcanthum et colcotar, que generantur ex majoribus granis ~i
~orum species sunt multe: aliud namque est album, aliud rubeum, aliud citrinum, aliud viride, aliud fuscum, quo utuntur scriptores, ‥ et secundum omnes species medium est lapidum et metallorum
attramentum, calcantum idem, quedam terra in Gallia cujus due sunt species, viz. vilior species est attramentum, nobilior species est vitriolum
si vis aliquid corrodere, adde modium de colcotar, i. de ~o citrino
calcater, i. ~um citrinum
in j ~o ad boves sanandos
in vertegrez, melle, ~o emptis ad reparacionem equorum
in ‥ gummis et attramento pro quodam equo ‥ infirmo
- 1. zwarte kleur, zwartheid;
- 2. kopersulfaat, schoensmeer [sutorium];
- 3. zwarte vloeistof; inkt.
墨。— tectorium 畫色。— fuligineum 印書墨。— sutorium 靑礬。— librarium 寫字墨。
Suggest a Translation
See an image
De Atramento noveris lector in versibus cunctos, non causa sensus, sed scansioni esse positos :
Arma vi. rumque ca. no Tro. jæ qui. primus ab. oris.
- ater, a black liquid: atramenti effusio: sutorium, blackingfor leather (a poisonous liquid).—Ink, writing-ink: labem remittunt Atramenta, H.
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…se armis quaeque defendat cornibus tauri, apri dentibus, cursu leones, aliae fuga se aliae occultatione tutantur, atramenti effusione saepiae torpore torpedines, multae etiam insectantes odoris intolerabili foeditate depellunt. Ut vero perpetuus mundi esset ornatus ,…
M. Tullius Cicero, de Natura Deorum
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…duobus correctoribus alter correctionem fecerit discerni non possit ; sed gravius est quod alter ab altero persaepe dinosci nequit. atramenti color et formae litterarum non semper sufficiunt ad comparandum et distinguendum. .. . tertium correctorem longe recentiorem s…
M. Tullius Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes
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…. a. d. vi K. Sext a. . MARCVS QVINTO FRATRI SAL VTEM. calamo et atramento temperato, charta etiam dentata res agetur. scribis enim te meas litteras superiores vix legere potuisse ; in quo…
Cicero, Epistulae ad Quintum fratrem
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…Pompeio nostro est interfectus, improbior nemo meo iudicio fuit. iam pater eius accusatus a M. Antonio sutorio atramento absolutus putatur. qua re ad patres censeo revertare ; plebeii quam fuerint importum vides. Scr. fort .…
Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares
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…, sal, auripigmentum, sulpur, cicuta, sandaraca, salamandra, alcyoneum, aeris flos, chalcitis, atramentum sutorium, ochra, calx, acetum, galla, alumen, lac caprifici uel lactucae marinae, quae tithymallos…
Celsus, De Medicina
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…mediam quae v, attritam, quam et herbaceam vocant, iii. sublinunt autem harenosam, priusquam inducant, atramento et paraetonio. haec sunt tenacia eius, colore blanda. paraetonium, quoniam est natura pinguissimum et propter levorem…
Pliny the Elder, Natural History
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…laconicum fuliginem, quae circa parietem et camerae curvaturam adhaerescit. inde collecta partim componitur ex gummi subacta ad usum atramenti librarii, reliquum tectores glutinum admiscentes in parietibus utuntur. Si autem hae copiae non fuerint paratae, ita necessitatibus…
Vitruvius, de Architectura
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…lapis haematites et Phrygius et As s ius et scissilis, misy, uinum, acetum. Adurunt auripigmentum, atramentum sutorium, chalcitis, misy, aerugo, calx, charta combusta, sal, squama aeris, faex combusta…
Celsus, De Medicina
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…veritate et nos autem testimonium perhibemus et nosti quoniam testimonium nostrum verum est multa habui scribere tibi sed nolui per atramentum et calamum scribere tibi spero autem protinus te videre et os ad os loquemur pax tibi salutant te amici saluta…
Vulgate, Latin Vulgate
ATRAMENTUM(μέλαν), a term applicable to any black liquid (for instance; that emitted by the cuttle-fish, Cic. N. D. 2.5. 0, 127), but specially to three different kinds of black colouring substances :--1. Atramentum sutorium (χάλκανθον), used by shoemakers as a sort of blacking to dye leather with (Plin. Nat.34.123). It contained a poisonous ingredient, probably sulphate of copper (Cic. ad Fam. 9.2. 1). 2. Atramentum tectorium or pictorium, a black pigment used by painters Pliny describes many varieties, the best of which was made by collecting the soot arising from the combustion of the pitch-pine on the marble walls of a specially constructed furnace, mixing it with glue, and then drying the mixture in the sun (Pliny, Plin. Nat.35.41; Vitr. 7.10). A kind made with vinegar instead of glue was especially permanent. Another kind, which was imported from India, was probably the same as our Indian ink. Apelles (Plin. Nat.35.97) coated his pictures with a thin atramentum or varnish, which both protected them and toned down the colours. 3. Atramentum librarium (μέλαν γραφικόν, in Byzantine Greek μελάνιον, ἀτέραμνον, ἔγκαυστον, whence our English word ink) was usually prepared in the same way as atramentum tectorium, gum being substituted for glue (Pliny and Vitruv. l. c.) The proportions, according to Dioscorides (5.182), were three parts of soot to one of gum. An infusion of wormwood protected manuscripts from mice (Plin. Nat.27.52). This ink was more unctuous than ours, and perhaps more durable, resembling our printer's ink. It could, however, be easily wiped out soon after writing (Athen. 9. p. 407 c). Hence the sponge was one of the regular implements of the scriba librarius (Suet. Aug. 85; Calig. 20; Auson. Ep. 7; Anthol. Pal. 6.295, 2; 65, 7; 66, 7). An inkstand containing some ink, thick but still fluid, was found at Pompeii. Its viscous character was sometimes a ground of complaint (Pers. l. c.), yet it was well adapted for writing. on papyrus.
The invention of our modern ink, composed of oxide of iron and galls, has been placed as late as the 12th century, but it is almost impossible to write on parchment with the ink described above, and the use of galls is mentioned not only by Martianus Capella (3.225) in the 5th century, but by Philo of Byzantium (p. 102, Vet. Mathem.) in the 2nd, in a description of a sympathetic ink, and has, moreover, been established by Sir H. Davy's experiments on the Herculanean manuscripts (Phil. Trans. 1821, 2.205).
The black fluid of the cuttle-fish (sepia) was also used as an ink, especially in Africa (Pers. Sat. 3.12 and Schol.; Auson. 4.76).
Coloured inks were also in use among the Romans [CINNABARIS, MINIUM, RUBRICA ], and even a species of illumination in gold (Suet. Nero 10).
Something like what we call sympathetic ink,, which is invisible till heat or some preparation be applied, appears not to have been uncommon, So Ovid (A. A. 3.627) advises writing love letters with fresh milk, which would be unreadable until the letters were sprinkled with coal-dust. Ausonius (Ep. 23.21) gives the same direction. Pliny (Plin. Nat.26.62) suggests that the milky sap contained in some plants might be used in the same way. Philo of Byzantium (l. c.) says that a letter written with an infusion of galls becomes invisible until a sponge dipped in a solution of sulphate of copper is passed over it, when it again becomes visible.
An inkstand (πυξίον, μελάνδοκον, μελανδοχεῖον, βροχίς; late Lat. atramentarium, atramentale) was either single or double. The double was probably intended to contain both black and red ink, much in the modern fashion. They were also of various shapes, as, for example, round or hexagonal, and of various materials, as terracotta, bronze or bronze inlaid with silver and gold, and sometimes highly decorated. It will be observed that two of the inkstands in the woodcut have rings whereby to attach them to the girdle (Petr. Sat. 102).
The preceding cuts represent inkstands found at Pompeii. [CALAMUS] (Caneparius, de Atramentis cujusque Generis, Lond. 1660; Beckmann, History of Inventions, 1.106, 2.266, London, 1846; Becker-Göll, Charikles, 2.222, &c.; Gallus, 1.166, &c.)
[J.H.F](μέλαν). A term applicable to any black liquid, but specifically used of three coloring substances. (1) Atramentum sutorium— blacking for leather.
(2) Atramentum tectorium or pictorium—a black pigment used by painters.
(3) Atramentum librarium (μέλαν γραφικόν) —ink, for which see Writing and Writing Materials.