'Esurient' For 'Inkhorn Terms'?

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam

24 January 2026

More than a decade ago, I got an email from a Post Graduate Indian student of English Literature at the University of Leeds, UK. Most of the words that he used in his long mail, entailed the use of a standard English dictionary or the ever-helpful Google. One word that he used stumped me. It had me scurrying for my Oxford Advanced Dictionary of English words. The word was 'esurient', though I must say, he used it correctly in that specific context: ' I'm forever esurient for archaic words.' The word 'esurient' means 'hungry or greedy.' But one word that he used is still registered on the palimpsest of my mind. It was 'Evisceration': Disembowelment. He again used this most uncommon Medical term in a very correct and precise manner: 'Vivian Richards' evisceration of English bowlers during his epic 189 not out can never be expunged from the collective memory of cricket lovers all over the world.' He could jolly well have used 'wiped out'. But he chose to use 'expunged' instead!

Our legendary (no irony or offence meant) wordsmith Shashi Tharoor was not in news at that time for his 'esurience for inkhorn terms'. He'd have been very happy to read the words like 'Esurient', 'Evisceration', 'Coxcomb' (A vain and conceited man), 'Doit' (A very small amount of money), 'Appetency' (A longing or desire); the list of obscure words is endless.

If you look at these rather recondite words, they don't seem to be too bad or sound too harsh phonetically, just like Tharoor's words 'Farrago,' 'Rodomontade,' ' Lalochezia', ' Muliebrity,' ' Gonzo' etc. which caused a minor linguistic earthquake on the landscape of today's WhatsApp terminology. Yet, unless you're Shashi Tharoor or an established exponent of digging out long-lost words, you'll be called a 'sciolist' (a very rare word for 'a pretender to knowledge').

Now the question is: Are those who tend to use little-known words and expressions in English or any other language, sciolists?

In his long article for a journal, 'Obsolete English Words: Some Recent Views', the author Edwin Berck Dike succinctly (nowadays, even this 'frequently' used word is being replaced with 'precisely') argues that 'The user of archaic and inkhorn terms must be extremely au fait (familiar in French) with the language, he/she is using the 'obsolete' terms in.' So very true. If one's English is not as good as that of Shashi Tharoor or my young friend at Leeds, the use of 'antiquated' words like 'Farrago', 'Esurient' etc. will appear forced and laboured.

One who has read Abul Kalam Azad's Urdu prose, esp. his autobiography 'Ghubar-e-khatir ' (Outpourings of the heart) in Urdu, feels that he deliberately used obsolete Persian and Arabic words and terms in his Urdu prose. But they conveniently overlook the fact that it was his innate and natural style. He knew all the three languages, viz Urdu, Persian and Arabic, in and out. So, his incorporation of very rare Persian and Arabic terms in Urdu doesn't appear to be artificial. Those vintage words came to his linguistic self as naturally as poetry to Mirza Ghalib. Josh Malihabadi, a stickler for grammatically correct Urdu, was of the view that if a poet or writer was familiar with archaic Persian and Arabic words and could use them properly and correctly, he must use those seemingly 'incomprehensible' words! But they must sound natural and not out of context. Alfaaz laakh dushvaar hon/ alfaaz lekin alfaaz hon (Let the words be unintelligible / But there must be words). 

To quote Edward Lee Thorndike from his book, ' The teacher's word book of 30,000 words,’ ‘Those who know a language extremely well, have the linguistic and semantic right to use the words that got interred in the graveyard of time. It's their pedantic and pedagogic right to resuscitate those temporarily buried words.' Now look at his syntax. The words he used are not in common parlance. Yet, he used them naturally as well as intentionally to ram home the point in his very famous book.

So, use such words but only when you know the language thoroughly. Otherwise, you'll only 'Eviscerate' it!

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A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.

URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/esurient-inkhorn-terms/d/138576

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