The origin of the word "pencil". The meaning of the object in art

The word "pencil" is so familiar to us that no one thought about its meaning and origin in the Russian language. And yet this word arose in our great and mighty language centuries ago. The origin of the word "pencil" is not at all a mystery. Linguists have long been determined with 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 in the life of this writing accessory is even older than the word itself. Such an object appeared in the thirteenth century. Used at that time exclusively by artists. They attached a thin silver wire to the handle. Erase what was written, it was impossible. In those days, portraits of nobles painted with lead pencil. Such a technique was used by the German artist and graphic artist Albrecht Durer.

Another hundred years later the world opened an Italian pencil. The technology of its manufacture is complex. The rod of this pencil was made of clay shale!

Etymology of the word

The origin of the word "pencil" is associated with the Turkic language. It came in Russian from Turkic in the fifteenth century. The word "pencil" is formed by the fusion of two bases: "kara" means "black", and "dash" means "stone" or "slate". The root of "punishment" is present in many Russian words. For example: the name of the city of Karasuk means "black water", because it was founded on the bank of the river.

Pencil: the meaning of the word

Another 200 years, Vladimir Ivanovich Dal in his explanatory dictionary defined the word "pencil".

1. It is graphite or fossil, which consists of iron and coal.
2. Graphite inserted by a rod into a tube made of wood, designed for drawing and other creativity.
3. Any dry paint in rods for drawing and writing with dry colors and pastels.

Synonyms

Like any word, so does the pencil in Russian, there are synonyms. Their correct use will depend on the context in which you put the replaced word. So, the word "pencil" can be replaced by the words: an auto-pencil, a slanderer, wrote, a pastel and so on.

With the word "pencil" in Russian there is a proverb. She says that the pencil is made for writing, and the hammer is for forging.

Pencil in art

The origin of the word "pencil" is already known to you. And many of us know that the pictures are painted with colors, pastels and pencils. When the picture 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 in the arena was a kind and bright clown Pencil - Mikhail Rumyantsev.

One day he was to perform in the Tauride Garden. Rumyantsev wanted to go on stage under a stage name. A complex search began for the sonorous and memorable words, conveying the leitmotif of his miniatures. While in the circus museum, Mikhail Rumyantsev considered posters and albums. He came across the hand of an album with caricatures of which the clown was interested. The author of these cartoons was a Frenchman - Karan d'Ash. Then Rumyantsev thought about this word. Applying this word as a pseudonym, he decided that the subject was running, especially among children. So the clown Mikhail Rumyantsev-Pencil paused 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 originally Russian. The first mention of pencils was recorded in the annals of the seventeenth century. And the mass production of this writing accessory began a century later in Germany. The origin of the word "pencil" you know. But did you hear what the inscription "Kohinur" means on it? The company, which produces pencils, named them after the diamond under the name "Kohinur", which in Persian means "Mountain of Light".