Borrowed from German Tinte, itself a borrowing from Latin tincta (aqua) (“colored water, liquid”). This word is first mentioned in the early 19th century. It replaced an earlier borrowing blaka, from Middle Low German blak, black (“black ink”). An attempt to introduce a neologism melne (from melns (“black”); compare Russian черни́ла (černíla, “ink”), from чёрный (čórnyj, “black”)) also failed.