421: pens versus pencil Feb 2, 2016

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Although effectively pens and pencils are not so very different, their etymological distinctions are worth noting. 'Pen' is a Middle English word which originally denoting a feather with a sharpened end, which we might now just call a 'quill'. That word derives from the Latin, 'penna' meaning ‘feather’ and in late Latin the word had come to fit the Modern English definition of ‘pen’. 'Pencil' in Middle English meant a fine paintbrush deriving from the Old French word, 'pincel' which is diminutive of the Latin 'peniculus' meaning ‘brush,’ which is itself diminutive of 'penis' which means ‘tail, penis’.

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