A pencil is a drawing and writing instrument.
Before going into the full analysis of the term pencil that concerns us now, it is important to 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 a writing or drawing instrument that has a graphite rod enclosed in a cylinder made of wood or other material. In this way, it is possible to hold the cylinder in the hand and move the graphite tip over a paper or other similar surface to leave marks and write or draw.
For example: “My mom gave me a box of 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.”
Uses of the pencil
Many professionals rely heavily on pencils. This would be the case, for example, of carpenters, who need them to make indications regarding the measurements they have to work with on a piece of furniture, or of draftsmen and architects.
However, we cannot forget that children also find in the pencil a necessary instrument both in their classes at school and even at home, to do their homework.
According to the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) , pencil is also the generic name given to several mineral substances that are often used for drawing.
Colored pencils are very popular among children.
Its origin
Historians claim that a deposit of graphite was discovered in England in the 17th century and local residents soon realized that this material allowed them to easily mark their sheep.
From then on, graphite began to be encapsulated in cylinders to create the instrument we know today as a pencil. It is said that the Italians were the first to use wooden cylinders.
Advantages of the pencil
One of the advantages of pencils is that their marks can be erased . The American Hymen Lipman was the one who patented the first pencil with an integrated eraser at its end, an event that occurred in March 1858 .
Nowadays we can find pencils with different characteristics. There are black and coloured pencils, with thin or thick leads, with a rounded or hexagonal structure, etc.
The term in cinema
There is also a Spanish film that refers specifically to the use of the pencil. We are referring to the film “El Lápiz del Carpintero” (The Carpenter's Pencil) , which was directed by Antón Reixa and released in 1998.
Luis Tosar, Tristán Ulloa and María Adánez lead the cast of this production, based on the work of the same name by Manuel Rivas, which sets the story in the Spanish Civil War (1936 – 1939). It is in this context that the relationship between a doctor imprisoned for his republican ideals and his girlfriend is told. A love that will be witnessed by Herbal, the jailer of the prison of the one who has kept a pencil broken in two since the beginning of the conflict. He is a man who will be torn between his obligations, his desire for revenge and bitterness or his feelings.