pen-driver n.

late 13c., penne, "writing implement made from the hard, hollow stem at the base of a feather," from Old French pene "quill pen; feather" (12c.) and directly from Latin penna "a feather, plume," in plural "a wing," in Late Latin, "a pen for writing," from Old Latin petna, pesna, from PIE *pet-na-, suffixed form of root *pet- "to rush; to fly."

In later French, this word means only "long feather of a bird," while the equivalent of English plume is used for "writing implement;" the senses of the two words in French thus are reversed from the situation in English.

In Middle English also "a feather," especially a large one from the wing or tail. The sense was extended to any instrument of similar form used for writing by means of fluid ink. Pen-and-ink (adj.) "made or done with a pen and ink" is attested from 1670s. Pen name "fictitious name assumed by an author" is by 1857 (French nom de plume was used in English from 1823). Southey uses pen-gossip (v.) "to gossip by correspondence" (1818).

"one who or that which drives" in various senses, late 14c. (late 13c. as a surname); agent noun from drive (v.). Earliest sense is "herdsman, drover, one who drives livestock." From mid-15c. as "one who drives a vehicle." In U.S., "overseer of a gang of slaves," by 1796. Meaning "golf club for hitting great distances" is by 1892. Driver's seat is attested by 1867; figurative use by 1954.

mid-14c., pencel, "an artist's small, fine brush of camel hair," used for painting, manuscript illustration, etc., from Old French pincel "artist's paintbrush" (13c., Modern French pinceau) and directly from Medieval Latin pincellus, from Latin penicillus "painter's brush, hair-pencil," literally "little tail," diminutive of peniculus "brush," itself a diminutive of penis "tail" (see penis).

Small brushes formerly were used for writing before modern lead or chalk pencils. Sticks of pure graphite (commonly known as black lead) were used for marking things in England from the mid-16c., and the wooden enclosure for them was developed in the same century on the Continent. This seems to have been the time the word pencil was transferred from a type of brush to "graphite writing implement." The modern clay-graphite mix was developed early 19c., and pencils of this sort were mass-produced from mid-19c. Hymen L. Lipman of Philadelphia obtained a patent for the pencil with an attached eraser in 1858.

Derogatory slang pencil-pusher "office worker" is from 1881 (pen-driver, jocular for "clerk, writer," is from 1820); pencil neck "weak person" first recorded 1973. Pencil-sharpener as a mechanical device for putting the point on a lead pencil is by 1854.

And here is a new and serviceable invention—a pencil sharpener. It is just the thing to carry in the pocket, being no larger than a lady's thimble. It sharpens a lead pencil neatly and splendidly, by means of a small blade fitted in a cap, which is turned upon the end of a pencil. A patent has been applied for. Made by Mr. W. K. Foster, of Bangor. ["The Portland Transcript," Portland, Maine, Sept. 30, 1854]