The word "pencil" is so familiar to us that no one even thought about its meaning and origin in Russian. Meanwhile, this word arose in our great and powerful language several centuries ago. The origin of the word "pencil" is not a mystery at all. Linguists have long decided on its origin. The word itself is not originally Russian, but came to us from another language. Where exactly, read on…
When the pencil appeared
The appearance of this writing utensil in everyday life is even older than the word itself. Such an object appeared in the thirteenth century. Used in those days exclusively by artists. They attached a thin silver wire to the handle. It was impossible to erase what was drawn. In those days, portraits of nobles were written with a lead pencil. This technique was used by the German artist and graphic artist Albrecht Dürer.
Another hundred years later, the Italian pencil opened up to the world. Its manufacturing technology is complex. The core of such a pencil was made of shale!
Etymology of the word
The origin of the word "pencil" is connected with the Turkic language. It came to the Russian language from Turkic in the fifteenth century. The word "pencil" is formed by the fusion of two bases: "kara" means "black", and "dash" is "stone" or "slate". The root "kara" is present in many Russian words. For example: the name of the city Karasuk means "black water", because it was founded on the banks of the river.
Pencil: meaning of the word
Another 200 years Vladimir Ivanovich Dal in his explanatory dictionary defined the word "pencil".
- This is graphite or a fossil that is made up of iron and coal.
- Graphite inserted with a rod into a tube made of wood, designed for drawing and other creative work.
- Any dry paint in rods for drawing and writing with dry paints and pastels.
Synonyms
Like any word, the pencil has synonyms in Russian. Their correct use will depend on the context in which you place the replacement word. So, the word "pencil" can be replaced by the words: auto-pencil, slanderer, wrote, pastel, and so on.
There is a proverb with the word "pencil" in Russian. It says that a pencil is made for writing, and a hammer is made for forging.
Pencil art
The origin of the word "pencil" is already known to you. And many of us know that pictures are painted with paints, pastels and pencils. Whenthe drawing is depicted with a pencil, then this technique in the art of painting is called graphics. But the modern generation does not know that in the era of the Soviet circus, the kind and bright clown Pencil - Mikhail Rumyantsev performed on the arena.
Once he had to perform in the Tauride Garden. Rumyantsev wanted to go on stage under a stage name. A complex search began for sonorous and memorable words that convey the leitmotif of his miniatures. Being in the circus museum, Mikhail Rumyantsev examined posters and albums. He came across an album with cartoons that the clown became interested in. The author of these cartoons was a Frenchman - Karan d'Ash. It was then that Rumyantsev thought about this word. Using this word as a pseudonym, he decided that this subject was in circulation, especially among children. So the clown Mikhail Rumyantsev, Pencil, settled on this pseudonym.
Conclusion
The history of the word "pencil" is simple. It was borrowed from the Turkic language in the fifteenth century, which means that it is not native Russian. The first mention of pencils is recorded in the annals of the seventeenth century. And the mass production of this writing instrument began a century later in Germany. You know the origin of the word "pencil". But have you heard what the inscription "Kohinoor" on it means? The company that produces the pencils named them after a diamond and named it Kohinoor, which means "Mountain of Light" in Persian.
