Before entering fully into the analysis of the term pencil that concerns us now, it is important that we know its etymological origin. Specifically, we can establish that it emanates from Latin, and more exactly from the word “lapis”, which can be translated as “stone”.
A pencil is an instrument for writing or drawing having a graphite rod enclosed within a cylinder of wood or other material. In this way, it is possible to take the cylinder by hand and move the graphite tip on a paper or other similar surface to leave the lines marked and write or draw.
For example: "My mother gave me a box with colored pencils for my birthday" , "Can I borrow your pencil? I want to make some notes ” , “ Look at the drawing my aunt made with a pencil on the napkin ” .
Many are the professionals who largely resort to the use of the pencil. This would be the case, for example, of carpenters, who need it to make indications regarding the measurements with which they have to work on a piece of furniture, or of draftsmen and architects.
Thus, there is also a Spanish film that refers precisely to the use of that one. We are referring to the film "The carpenter's pencil", which is directed by Antón Reixa and which was released in 1998.
Luis Tosar, Tristán Ulloa and María Adánez lead the cast of this production, based on the homonymous work by Manuel Rivas, which places the story in the Spanish Civil War (1936 - 1939). It is in this framework that the relationship between a doctor imprisoned for his republican ideals and his girlfriend is told. A love that Herbal will witness, the jailer of the prison of the one who keeps a pencil split in two since the conflict began. It is about a man who will be torn between his obligations, his desire for revenge and bitterness or his feelings.
However, we cannot forget that the little ones also find in the pencil a necessary instrument both for their classes at school and even at home, to carry out their homework.
According to the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), pencil is also the generic name given to various mineral substances that are often used to draw.
Historians claim that a deposit of graphite was found in England in the 17th century, and local people soon realized that this material allowed them to mark their sheep with ease. From then on, the graphite began to be encapsulated in cylinders for the creation of the instrument that we know today as a pencil. It is said that the Italians were the first to appeal to wooden cylinders.
One of the advantages of pencils is that you can erase your strokes. The North American Hymen Lipman was the one who patented the first pencil with an integrated eraser at its end, a fact that occurred in March 1858.
At present we can find pencils with different characteristics. There are black and colored pencils, with a thin or thick lead, with a rounded or hexagonal structure, etc.