Tools of the trade.

The word "pen" is derived from the Latin "penna," a feather – because, of course, for many centuries people wrote with quill pens, trimming and splitting the nibs with sharp little "pen knives." The German "feder," Spanish and Italian "pluma" and French "plume" are all derived from the same thing, ideally plucked from a nice fat goose (which could be paid for by by exerting the feather, together with a little ink).



I've always found it an attractive idea that writing should be associated with wings, and that the same, proverbially light scrap of protein should bestow the power of flight on both birds and words.

Interestingly, the word "pencil" has a different derivation, and comes from Latin "penis," a tail. That this word also applies to the male sexual organ is one of those happy Freudian coincidences – or is it? Ay, thereby hangs a tail. It may be worth remembering that "author" derives from the Latin verb "augere," to make something grow, to originate, promote or increase.

These days, of course, pens and pencils have largely given way to keyboards. Although "keyboard" is a fairly recent coinage, dating to the early 19th Century, the use of the word "key" to denote the striking lever of a musical instrument goes back to Mediaeval times. The clavichord was a 15th Century predecessor of the harpsichord and the piano, in which a string (chorda) was struck with a key (clavis). This concept was transferred to typewriters and thence to the computers we now use.

Once again, there is something beguiling about this association, the clicking of our keyboards translating into flowing music. Or not, as the case might be.

I wonder what the next tool of the writer's trade will be?