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Ink-horn: According to the Oxford English Dictionary, cuckold was the "derisive name for a husband of an unfaithful wife." The word cuckold was short for "cuckold-fish," which was a fish with "horn-like projections." Thus, in literature, husbands of adulteresses are often depicted as having horns. The use of ink-horn here plays on the professions of Benjamin, a news-forger, and Ruth's lover Timothy, a scrivener. A scrivener was a scribe, thus causing Ruth's transgression to effectively give Benjamin horns of ink. |