"Sheldon" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>
> Pandopa wrote:
>> "Luca Pinotti"
>> >> Ken Knecht wrote:
>> >>> I assume it's a pasta shape. I looked in Google but while seeing lots
>> >>> of
>> >>> recipes I couldn't find a description.
>> >>
>> >> Penne means pen (or pencil), I think, and that's the shape of the
>> >> pasta. But, I'm not sure.
>> > Penna (penne pl.): feather, plume, pen, quill.
>>
>> The shape of pasta "penne" it's more similar to a pen (pencil) not to a
>> plume
>> Pandora
>
> Nope. Penne is so named because it is representitive of a plume, a
> quill pen (a pen made from a feather)... the modern pencil had not yet
> been invented at the time of the penne designation for that particular
> pasta configuration. I'll let yoose investigate the etymology for
> pencil.

Correct. The pencil (wooden sheath and graphite) was invented in 1795.
"Goose pen" (feather with properly cut hollow shaft or calamus [hence the
italian word "calamaio" for ink pot]) is far more acient.


> pen
> noun
> Etymology: Middle English penne, from Middle French, feather, pen, from
> Latin penna, pinna feather; akin to Greek pteron wing -- more at
> FEATHER
> 1 : an implement for writing or drawing with ink or a similar fluid: as
> a : QUILL

Pencil
from L. penicillus "paintbrush, pencil," lit. "little tail," dim. of
peniculus "brush," itself a dim. of penis "tail"

Luca