"the use of the pen in writing; manner of writing, handwriting," 1690s, from obsolete penman in the sense of "one who writes a good hand" + -ship.
Entries linking to penmanship
penman n.
590s, "one who writes a good hand, one skilled in penmanship;" 1610s, "copyist, clerk, scrivener" (obsolete), from pen (n.1) + man (n.).
-ship
word-forming element meaning "quality, condition; act, power, skill; office, position; relation between," Middle English -schipe, from Old English -sciepe, Anglian -scip "state, condition of being," from Proto-Germanic *-skepi- (cognates: Old Norse -skapr, Danish -skab, Old Frisian -skip, Dutch -schap, German -schaft), from *skap- "to create, ordain, appoint," from PIE root *(s)kep-, forming words meaning "to cut, scrape, hack" (see shape (v.)). It often forms abstracts to go with corresponding concretes (friend/friendship, etc.).