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From: Ross Clark <benlizro@ihug.co.nz>
Newsgroups: sci.lang
Subject: National Pencil Day (30 March)
Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2024 09:23:53 +1300
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
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Sorry, I got behind. Too late for you to celebrate.

(1) I like pencils. I rejoice when I find one, among the heaps of dead 
and dying ballpoint pens, in the kitchen. I can use it to add something 
to the shopping list. If the point's broken or dull, I have a little 
pencil sharpener that can fix it. Old tech, still works. Pencil keeps on 
working until it's...gone!

(2) First appears in English ca.1350 meaning a small fine-tipped paint 
brush. (Its closest cognate is French pinceau, which still means 'paint 
brush'.) The device we now know as a "pencil" was invented in the 16th 
century, and the earliest attestations use expressions like "pencil of 
black lead" -- the graphite came from Borrowdale (Cumbria), and was at 
first mistaken for a lead ore.

(3) Etymology: Not related to "pen" (Latin penna 'feather').
But related to "penis" (Latin pe:nis 'tail', pe:nicillum 'paint brush').