Birds have/had ... [feathers, pens, plumes, quills]: equivalents in your language?

[ThomasK]

We had contributions on separate words, like feather or pen, but now I would like to generalize a bit and hear about the number of equivalents with separate roots for the concept /(bird's) feather/. It would be interesting if you could briefly state to what contexts they refer...

Engelish seems to have four equivalents, and four separate roots, I think: see above. Dutch has pluim, pen, veer (veder), which resemble English of course (plume, pen, feather). Contexts:
- pluim feather (lit.), honorary accessory
- pen something to write with (vulpen, fountain pen)
- veer (lit.), bouncing (veerkracht, resilience), bed (vroeg uit de veren, early riser..)

 

[Welsh_Sion]

Cymraeg/Welshs

feather: pluen (n.f.) NW, plufyn (n.m.) SW. The sing. are back formations from the collectives, plu and pluf. You might also consider pluen and plufyn to be diminutives (to base 1) of the collective nouns.

pen: pen (n.m.) ysgrifennu and pin (n.m.) ysgrifennu ('writing pen').

plume: pluen and plufyn. As above.

quill: cwil (n.m.), with masc. diminutive, cwilsyn and fem. diminutive, cwilsen.

 

[Penyafort]

Catalan

feather = ploma (< Latin pluma). The word ploma is also used for first feathers used for writing and, by extension, for fountain pens. It is also used to refer to the art of writing.

pen = (fountain pen) ploma estilogràfica, shortened to either ploma or estilogràfica. Note: It is not used for ball-point pens.

plume = ploma. The plumage or layer of feathers can be called plomall, plomell, plomer, plomissall or plomatge. If it refers to the very fine ones, it's plomissol. All these words are derived from ploma with common suffixes.

quill = (old writing feather) ploma; (part of the feather, calamus) canó. Other parts of the feather in Catalan are: bandera or vexil·la (vane), barba (barb), raquis (shaft) and hiporaquis (aftershaft).

Another word for ploma in old/literary Catalan is penna. Nowadays it refers to the bigger feather at the tip of wings or the tail's base. The word can also be seen in the name for the bat: ratpenat or ratapenada (literally, 'feathered rat').

 

[Welsh_Sion]

Sorry for the diversion, but I couldn't help but chuckle at your last sentence @Penyafort. (Paging @Yendred, too.)

bat (the creature)

Cat. 'a feathered rat'
Fra. 'a bald mouse'

Curious, eh?

 

[ThomasK]

Catalan

feather = ploma (< Latin pluma). The word ploma is also used for first feathers used for writing and, by extension, for fountain pens. It is also used to refer to the art of writing.

pen = (fountain pen) ploma estilogràfica, shortened to either ploma or estilogràfica. Note: It is not used for ball-point pens.

plume = ploma. The plumage or layer of feathers can be called plomall, plomell, plomer, plomissall or plomatge. If it refers to the very fine ones, it's plomissol. All these words are derived from ploma with common suffixes.

quill = (old writing feather) ploma; (part of the feather, calamus) canó. Other parts of the feather in Catalan are: bandera or vexil·la (vane), barba (barb), raquis (shaft) and hiporaquis (aftershaft).

Another word for ploma in old/literary Catalan is penna. Nowadays it refers to the bigger feather at the tip of wings or the tail's base. The word can also be seen in the name for the bat: ratpenat or ratapenada (literally, 'feathered rat').

feather: very much like English, but you seem to distinguish between the nicer/finer feathers and "base" feathers. I don't think we can. However, we can refer to the pluimage of a person, not literally referring to his feather coat, but to his or her origin. van divers pluimage: of different kinds/origins...

quill/cano: bother tailfeathers, I understand. (I would not know of the distinctions between the different parts of feathers)

penna: nothing to do with writing then, i guess!

Just btw: doesn't any of those words refer to the contents of matresses, like the down or duvet? We say that we have rise vroeg uit de veren (lit. early from the feathers, thus suggesting that we rise from our feather-filled mattress or pillow... But I guess dons/ duvet might lead us astray...

 

[ThomasK]

Cymraeg/Welshs

feather: pluen (n.f.) NW, plufyn (n.m.) SW. The sing. are back formations from the collectives, plu and pluf. You might also consider pluen and plufyn to be diminutives (to base 1) of the collective nouns.

pen: pen (n.m.) ysgrifennu and pin (n.m.) ysgrifennu ('writing pen').

plume: pluen and plufyn. As above.

quill: cwil (n.m.), with masc. diminutive, cwilsyn and fem. diminutive, cwilsen.

Basically you use plu/... and pen then. No "feathers" around. And only referring to writing?

Just btw: the main feature of bats, which we consider to be a kind of mouse, are their wings; the winged mouse... ;-)

 

[Roxxxannne]

In American English, birds have feathers, plumes, plumage, crests, and down (and rarely pinions). I've never heard of a bird having a pen (except possibly a secretary bird, haha). But as you know pen comes from the Latin penna, feather.

 

[ThomasK]

Plumage as the feather coat then? But crest: I gather that the "head hair" is the original signifié whereas the crest of a mountain is a metaphor.

So all references to feathers are gone to most speakers of English as far as "pens" are concerned. And I suppose the same holds true of"to pen"? I suppose the same holds in Dutch: noone thinks of feathers when we talk about (Dutch) pennen (pens). But maybe there is a hidden reference to feathers in "pennenvruchten" (pen fruits).

 

[Roxxxannne]

I would say that plumage is the entire "suit" of feathers.
Yes, crest according to the Online Etymology Dictionary comes from Latin crista, tuft or plume, but the crest of a bird like a crested tit (note the nice Latin and Greek in its scientific name Lophophanes cristatus!) and the crest of a cock are two different things: the former is made up of feathers and the latter isn't.

What distinguishes "pennenvruchten" from any other fruit? I have never heard of pen fruits.

 

[סייבר־שד]

In Mexican Spanish we have the following:

• feather = pluma
• pen = pluma / bolígrafo - The latter does not seem to be as widespread as the former here, especially in the spoken language. I believe in some South American countries they call this a birome.
• plume = pluma (a single large feather) / penacho (a group of feathers)
• quill = pluma - My Oxford Spanish dictionary gives the additional translations for this one: pluma de ganso / pluma de oca. I have yet to hear either of them employed here to refer to the writing instrument, though. We do use pluma de ganso, but that's when talking about the stuffing of some pillows that are supposedly filled with goose feathers.
Then there is also the archaic term péñola , which comes from Latin pennula (= "little feather").

Other related terms we have in Spanish (not an exhaustive list, of course) :

• plumaje - This one can be used to refer either to all the feathers covering a bird's body or to a decorative group of feathers mounted on a helmet or a hat.
• plumín (= nib) - Here in Mexico I've also heard this one used to refer to a felt-tip pen, especially a (very) thin one.
• plumón - This one refers to the particularly thin feathers underneath a bird's plumage; in this meaning, it can also be written plumión. It can be used to talk about a mattress stuffed with this kind of feathers, as well, but in Mexico I believe I've only ever heard it used meaning "felt-tip pen".
• plumilla - I've never heard this one here, but the RAE dictionary states it's a writing instrument similar to a quill, but instead of a bird's feather it consists of a long piece of metal with a handle made of wood, bone or other materials.
• plumier - From French and with the same meaning (= a case designed to keep pens, pencils, etc, in it).
• plumero - A feather duster (the only meaning here in Mexico, as far as I know) or a plume (= set of decorative feathers on a hat or helmet).
• plumería -A set of feathers or an abundance of feathers.
• plumerío - A set of feathers.

bat (the creature)

Cat. 'a feathered rat'
Fra. 'a bald mouse'

Curious, eh?

And in Spanish, Galician and Portuguese we have "blind mice".

What distinguishes "pennenvruchten" from any other fruit? I have never heard of pen fruits.

Those fruits have nothing to do with botany. It's a Dutch word used to refer to someone's writings, the "results (= fruits) of their pen" , their "pen produce".

 

[ThomasK]

I would say that plumage is the entire "suit" of feathers.
Yes, crest according to the Online Etymology Dictionary comes from Latin crista, tuft or plume, but the crest of a bird like a crested tit (note the nice Latin and Greek in its scientific name Lophophanes cristatus!) and the crest of a cock are two different things: the former is made up of feathers and the latter isn't.

What distinguishes "pennenvruchten" from any other fruit? I have never heard of pen fruits.

Great information. Now, as for "pennenvruchten": the word refers to the fruits, the results (the beautiful results) of our (creative) writing - and in that connection some native speakers might be reminded of the bird feathers that have led to pens and writing tools or instruments.

Lots of uniformed people seem to be lophophanes, showing (off) their "crest" or something else on top of their head... Don't they?

 

[apmoy70]

First things first, in Greek birds are:

(1A) «Πτηνό/-νά» [pt̠iˈno̞] (neut. nom. sing.)/[pt̠iˈna] (neut. nom. pl.) < Classical neuter «πτηνόν» /ptɛːˈnon/ (neut. nom. sing.), «πτηνά» /ptɛːˈnɐ/ (neut. nom. pl.) --> flying/winged creature(s), bird(s), a deverbative from the deponent verb «ἵπταμαι» /ˈhiptɐmɐi̯/ --> to fly (PIE *peth₂-). It's the formal/scientific name of the animal.

(1B) «Πουλί/-λιά» [puˈli] (neut. nom. sing.)/[puˈʎa] (neut. nom. pl.) < ΒyzGr neuter noun «πουλλίν» /pul.ˈlin/ (neut. nom. sing.), «πουλλία» /pul.ˈliɐ/ (neut. nom. pl.) --> bird(s) < Late Koine neuter noun «πουλλί(ο)ν» /puˈlːi(o)n/, diminutive of the masc. «ποῦλλος» /ˈpûlːos/ --> baby bird, chick < Classical masc. noun «πῶλος» /ˈpɔ̂ːlos/ contaminated with the Latin pullus. It's the vernacular/colloquial name of the animal.

• Feathers: «Πτέρωμα» [ˈpt̠e̞ɾo̞ma] (neut. nom. sing.) & dissimilated «φτέρωμα» [ˈft̠e̞ɾo̞ma] < Classical neuter noun «πτέρωμα» /ˈpterɔːmɐ/ (nom. sing.), from the neuter «πτερόν» /pteˈron/ (see below).
• Quill: «Πτερό» [pt̠e̞ˈɾo̞] (neut.) and dissimilated «φτερό» [ft̠e̞ˈɾo̞] (neut.) < Classical neuter noun «πτερόν» /pteˈron/. It's the generic name of feather, so to distinguish between a feather and a quill, we often add the adjective «μεγάλο» [me̞ˈɣalo̞] (neut.) --> big, large, or «ουραίο» [uˈɾe̞o̞] (neut.) --> of-the-tail > μεγάλο φτερό (big feather = quill), ουραίο φτερό (tail feather = quill).
• Plume: «Λοφίο» [lo̞ˈfio̞] (neut.) < ΒyzGr neuter diminutive «λοφίον» /loˈɸion/ --> crest, plume < Classical masc. noun «λόφος» /ˈlopʰos/.
• The quill pen is «πέν(ν)α» [ˈpe̞na] (fem.) < Italian penna.

Edit: Corrected a spelling mistake and added πέν(ν)α

 

[Welsh_Sion]

Basically you use plu/... and pen then. No "feathers" around. And only referring to writing?

Not sure what you mean, @ThomasK ...

 

[Awwal12]

- pen something to write with (vulpen, fountain pen)

Russian has essentially two words for 'pen':
1. перо (peró) lit. "feather; quill". Aside from quills, it was also used for dip pens (by analogy). In fountain pens it refers to their metallic writing tips.
2. ручка (rúchka) lit. "little hand/arm" - a collective term for ballpoint pens (by default), rollerball pens, porous point pens and fountain pens (перьевая ручка - per'yeváya rúchka, lit. "feather little hand" = "quill pen").

- pluim feather (lit.), honorary accessory

In Russian a single pluim will be likely referred to as just "feather" (перо). Плюмаж (plyumázh, an obvious Gallicism), I believe, will normally consist of several pluims. Still, it may be used for natural elements of a bird's feathering as well.

 

[Panceltic]

In Slovenian, we have pero (pl. peresa) which is a feather. There is a collective noun perje (plumage).

A ball-point pen is kemični svinčnik ("chemical pencil"), shortened to kemik or, very colloquially kuli (from German Kugelschreiber).

A fountain pen is nalivno pero ("poured-in (?) feather"), shortened to nalivnik.

 

[Awwal12]

In Slovenian, we have pero (pl. peresa) which is a feather. There is a collective noun perje (plumage).

To note, in Russian перья (pér'ya) has turned into the ordinary plural form, much like with several other nouns (druz'yá, brát'ya, kolós'ya, ugól'ya etc.).

 

[Yendred]

bat (the creature)

Cat. 'a feathered rat'
Fra. 'a bald mouse'

Curious, eh?

Yes indeed

In French, chauve-souris (lit. bald mouse) comes from Gaulish(*) kawa sorix that meant "owl mouse", but with time kawa was erroneously transcribed into calva (bald).

(*) one of the few dozens French words of Gaulish origin.

And in Spanish, Galician and Portuguese we have "blind mice".

That makes sense, since bats essentially find their way using acoustic location.

 

[Yendred]

plumier - From French and with the same meaning (= a case designed to keep pens, pencils, etc, in it).

"-ier" is not a common phoneme in Spanish. Do you pronounce it /plumjɛr/ ?

 

[Yendred]

- pluim feather (lit.), honorary accessory
- pen something to write with (vulpen, fountain pen)
- veer (lit.), bouncing (veerkracht, resilience), bed (vroeg uit de veren, early riser..)

In French, all three are plume.
But we also have duvet (down, noun), the soft fine feathers that cover young birds.

 

[Awwal12]

Cat. 'a feathered rat'
Fra. 'a bald mouse'

You can add Russian 'flying mouse' to the list. The associations are rather predictable, though.

 

[Awwal12]

But we also have duvet (down, noun), the soft fine feathers that cover young birds.

Actually, that down feather remains as the underlying layer of feathering even in grown up birds.
Russian use the word пух (pukh) "fluff" here - which also refers to underfur of mammals.

 

[Roxxxannne]

Actually, that down feather remains as the underlying layer of feathering even in grown up birds.
Russian use the word пух (pukh) "fluff" here - which also refers to underfur of mammals.

In fact, female eiders pull out the down from their chests to make soft nests for their hatchlings. I've seen disused eider nests that feel soft and somewhat spongy underfoot, sort of like a damp but fluffy duvet.

 

[סייבר־שד]

You can add Russian 'flying mouse' to the list. The associations are rather predictable, though.

Might as well add Luxembourgish, Dutch and German, too, all of which have "flapping mice".

 

[סייבר־שד]

"-ier" is not a common phoneme in Spanish. Do you pronounce it /plumjɛr/ ?

Certainly not in that final position, no. I believe it's only ever used precisely in French words that have entered our language, such as crupier and somelier, with the spelling adapted here to Spanish's phonetics, though I believe I've seen them both written in their French spelling.

• Last-minute edit: sorry @Yendred , like a complete dunce, I focused on the "-ier" suffix and forgot about the pronunciation of plumier!
I'm actually not sure I've ever heard that one here in Mexico, now that I think about it, but if someone were to say it they would most likely pronounce it /pluˈmjer/.

 

[סייבר־שד]

I forgot to mention there's also the term cálamo in Spanish which, among other things, can also mean "quill" (either made out of a bird's feather or of metal), but is a literary and rather outdated word in this sense; the RAE dictionary labels it poetic.

As you may already know, that word is ultimately of Greek origin, and it's also found in, among many other languages, Arabic قلم [qalam] (Standard Arabic IPA), Ge'ez ቅለም [k'ælæm] and Georgian კალამი [k'alami].

Cálamo also means the lower hollow part of a feather's shaft (the long, thin and central part of it) that has no barbs (the "fluff" of the feather) and penetrates the bird's hide. According to Wikipedia, in English it's called calamus or quill.

 

[Circunflejo]

Some terms in Spanish:

Pluma: feather, pen and some more meanings (a part of the pig, mast of a crane...).
Plumilla (diminutive of pluma): pen.
Pena: feather in Old Spanish. It's still used nowadays with the meaning of pen.
Péndola: feather (rare nowadays) and pen.
Penacho: group of feathers that some birds have over their head. Also the ones you can find as ornaments at the top of helmets and the like.
Cresta, copete and airón: like the first meaning of penacho.
Remera: a big and long feather on the hedge of the wing.
Astil: the axis that follows the cañón that is the starting point of the barbas or cendal, (see: Pluma - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre for a picture locating the cañón and the barbas and some other parts of a feather, as well as for info about other parts of feathers that I won't quote here like raquis, cañón, cálamo...).
Timorera: big feather at the tail of birds that is used to guide their flight.
Pelo: thin feathers under the external feathers.
Pincel: feather of a swift under the second feather of its wing.
There are also some specific terms for feathers of falcons like tijera, piñón or cuchillo (I'm not an expert in the subject so I won't go deeper into the nuances of each of this terms). There's also plumado: feathers eaten by falcons.
Látigo: feather used as an ornament of a hat that covers most of it.

P.S.: pinna is feather in Latin but it means leaflet in Spanish (and it's one of the few Spanish words with a geminated consonant).

Do you pronounce it /plumjɛr/ ?

/plumjer/

I believe it's only ever used precisely in French words that have entered our language, such as crupier and somelier, with the spelling adapted here to Spanish's phonetics, though I believe I've seen them both written in their French spelling.

Well, there's cualquier and doquier... And there was antier in Old Spanish.

 

[סייבר־שד]

Well, there's cualquier and doquier... And there was antier in Old Spanish.

Aarghh, I forgot about those! Cheers.
As for antier it's still very much alive and kicking here in Mexico , indeed, it sometimes seems to me to be even more frequently used than anteayer.

And I just remembered, @Yendred , that another gallicism we sometimes employ over here with that suffix is premier, both either to refer to the first public performance of a film or play, and again with an adapted spelling, or to talk about a country's prime minister. According to the Colegio de México's Diccionario del Español de México the latter is more frequently used to refer to those ministers from communist countries, as you can verify here.

 

[Penyafort]

Just btw: doesn't any of those words refer to the contents of matresses, like the down or duvet? We say that we have rise vroeg uit de veren (lit. early from the feathers, thus suggesting that we rise from our feather-filled mattress or pillow... But I guess dons/ duvet might lead us astray...

Yes, ploma can also be used for the stuffing of a mattress, cushion or duvet: matalàs de plomes, coixí de plomes, edredó de plomes.

But most idioms with the word ploma refer to writing: prendre la ploma 'start writing', deixar córrer la ploma 'to write a lot', ésser una bona ploma 'be a good writer', l'art de la ploma 'the art of writing', mata més una ploma que cent canons 'one feather kills more than a hundred canons = the pen is mightier than the sword'.

 

[Yendred]

But most idioms with the word ploma refer to writing: prendre la ploma 'start writing', deixar córrer la ploma 'to write a lot', ésser una bona ploma 'be a good writer', l'art de la ploma 'the art of writing', mata més una ploma que cent canons 'one feather kills more than a hundred canons = the pen is mightier than the sword'.

❤️

 

[apmoy70]

Yes, ploma can also be used for the stuffing of a mattress, cushion or duvet: matalàs de plomes, coixí de plomes, edredó de plomes.
...

Thank you for reminding me that we too have a word for the soft feathers used for the stuffing of a mattress (the fine & small feathers usually found underneath the bird's plumage), «πούπουλο/-λα» [ˈpupulo̞] (neut. nom. sing.)/[ˈpupula] (neut. nom. pl.) < Venetian pùpola --> soft feather. The mattress is referred to as «πουπουλένιο» [pupuˈle̞ɲo̞] (neut.) --> made-of-soft-feather.

 

[ThomasK]

Could that be a (lexical/...) diminutive of a /pule/ word? Frontal reduplication might represent some kind of affection...

 

[se16teddy]

we can refer to the pluimage of a person, not literally referring to his feather coat, but to his or her origin. van divers pluimage: of different kinds/origins...

Reminiscent of the English proverb “birds of a feather flock together”, in which the plumage of different birds stands for the characteristics of different people.

 

[Welsh_Sion]

Reminiscent of the English proverb “birds of a feather flock together”, in which the plumage of different birds stands for the characteristics of different people.

If @ThomasK wants to develop this in another thread, the Welsh are more generic in their proverb here:

Adar o'r un lliw, hedant i'r un lle
'Birds of the same colour, fly to the same place'

 

[Welsh_Sion]

We already have this thread, at least ...

Birds of a feather flock together

 

[ThomasK]

Might as well add Luxembourgish, Dutch and German, too, all of which have "flapping mice".

Or "winged mouse"? (vleermuis in Dutch)

 

[סייבר־שד]

Or "winged mouse"? (vleermuis in Dutch)

Indeed! I was wrong in thinking the Dutch word's first element had its roots in the verb fladderen. According to the "Etymologische woordenboek van het nederlands" (M. Philippa et al):

"Samenstelling van mnl. vleder ‘vleugel’ en → muis (...) De traditionele opvatting, volgens welke het eerste lid is afgeleid van mnl. vlederen, is onhoudbaar, onder andere omdat dit werkwoord veel jonger is; het omgekeerde is het geval, zie verder → fladderen."

Erg bedankt voor de correctie!

 

[ThomasK]

Well, I did not know that much about the etymology of this word, had never thought of any verb simply, I must admit. If that has been helpful, I am just quite pleased to hear that. Just by the way: you do no longer need the dictionary, you can just look at www.etymologiebank.nl.

 

[סייבר־שד]

Well, I did not know that much about the etymology of this word, had never thought of any verb simply, I must admit. If that has been helpful, I am just quite pleased to hear that. Just by the way: you do no longer need the dictionary, you can just look at www.etymologiebank.nl.

That's just what I did, I looked it up on the website.
I'm afraid I don't even have the printed dictionary, though I must say I would actually love to get my hands on it! I've always been a complete sucker for dictionaries and etymology.

 

[ThomasK]

Have you ever tried second-hand? But let's get back to our feathers business! ;-)

 

[symposium]

In Italian we have "penna" (pl. "penne"), big long feathers like those on a bird's wings, a word also used for the writing tool ("penna a sfera") and "piuma" (pl. "piume"), soft feathers, duvet, the ones used for filling cushions or coats ("piuma d'oca" = "goose down"). I can't think of any idiomatic use of those words.

 

[Włoskipolak 72]

Polish

If my memory serves me correctly..

feather = pióro (piuro)
pen = pióro
ball-point pen = długopis
rollerball pen = pióro kulkowe
plumage = upierzenie, pióra, pierze.
plume (panache) = pióropusz

 

[ThomasK]

Polish

ball-point pen = długopis

Is it correct to say that there is no /plume/ root in this word, whereas the others betray their origin? Thanks!

 

[Welsh_Sion]

You should be made aware as we are now talking about writing instruments that we use the following in Cymraeg/Welsh:

- beiro (which is a Cymricisation of the Hungarian inventor's name. @AndrasBP will be proud!)
- pin dur (Lit. 'iron pen') for 'a writing pen'
- pin llenwi (Lit. 'filling in pen') for 'a fountain pen'

And what is a pen-feather (Cym. 'cwilsen') in English?

 

[Yendred]

In French, writing instruments containing a reference to feathers are:

• plume (quill)

• porte-plume (dip pen), usually a metallic nib mounted in a wooden holder

• stylo-plume (fountain pen), contains its own ink reservoir

"stylo" is the common abbreviation for stylographe (borrowed from English stylograph pen), and is also used in more modern instruments like stylo-bille(1) (ballpoint pen) or stylo-feutre(2) (felt-tip pen).

(1) commonly just called stylo, or the antonomasia bic, from the French pen brand Bic.
(2) commonly just called feutre.

 

[Welsh_Sion]

I've always wondered @Yendred - Who is that little guy who stands for bic's logo?

https://image.pngaaa.com/352/4048352-middle.png

 

[Yendred]

Who is that little guy who stands for bic's logo?

I didn't know it either! It's supposed to depict a stylized schoolboy with a metal ball head (internally called "Bic Boy"), inspired by an advertising illustrator's drawing, Raymond Savignac.

Drawing by Raymond Savignac (1960' version):

Current Bic logo:

Recently modernized character (project for a specific collection):

I translate the description found here:

The character that conveys the image of the BiC collection displays an asymmetrical posture reflecting the playfulness of childhood and the casualness of adolescence. Its spherical head has a transparent cranium revealing the ball at the heart of the BiC thought. A fine orange beam crosses its body. It symbolizes the visible ink tube of the BiC pen. Finally, it wears a cap to capture the attention of the teenagers targeted by the BiC collection.

- beiro (which is a Cymricisation of the Hungarian inventor's name. @AndrasBP will be proud!)

And let's pay tribute to the original inventor, as stated by Wikipedia:

Marcel Bich, founder of the Bic company, bought the patent for the ballpoint pen from Hungarian inventor László Bíró in 1945.

 

[Roxxxannne]

Bíró => Biro !!!

 

[Włoskipolak 72]

Is it correct to say that there is no /plume/ root in this word, whereas the others betray their origin? Thanks!

Exactly długopis lit. longwrites.., there is no ''plume'' root.

pen= pióro wieczne (plume sans fin)

 

[Włoskipolak 72]

Bíró => Biro !!!

I didn't know that story..;

The ballpoint pen - a writing instrument invented in 1938 by the Hungarian artist and journalist László Bíró. After the outbreak of war, he fled his homeland and arrived in Argentina, where he and his brother George (a chemist) perfected the invention. The first production started during the war in Buenos Aires. In 1944, László Bíró sold his shares to a shareholder who took up mass production. It was made for the needs of Allied pilots during the Second World War, as the pen can be used to write regardless of changes in atmospheric pressure.