inglés
WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS RELATED TO WRITTING SUPPORT
"VOLUME"
ENGLISH WORD: “volume”.
CURRENT MEANING: it´s a collection of written or printed sheets bound together and constituting a book. This volume can house a complete work, be made up of independent works or it can be one of the books of a work printed and bound in more than one book.
ORIGIN: it comes from the Latin word volume “roll of sheets”, equivalent to volu-, base of volvere “to roll” + -men noun suffix. The ancient Greek and Roman works were written on Papyrus sheets glued called volumina. These sheets would wrap in a cylinder of wood and bone, completed at the end with wood or ivory knobs.
The Joshua Roll. S. X. Vatican Library.
ENGLISH WORD: “chart”.
CURRENT MEANING: this word has a different meaning from the others languages, so it can be a sheet exhibiting information in tabular form or it can also refer to a graphic representation or a map.
ORIGIN: it derives from the Latin word charta that derives at the same time from Greek khártes, with theliteral meaning of papyrus, sheet on which to make marks.
"PARCHMENT"
ENGLISH WORD: “parchment”.
CURRENT MEANING: the skin of sheep, goats, etc., leathery where the ancients wrote. A document written in that skin.
ORIGIN: it is believed that the parchment word evolved from the name of the city of Pergamon in which was developed this creation. It´s a writing support that the ancients got from the skin of different farm animal (goats, sheeps, cows, etc.). When the skin was clean, the parchment turned into a very strong material that allowed to be scratched and it could write on both sides, in contrast with the papyrus. The problem was its cost, because it was expensive and difficult to manufacture.
Hydrographic map of France in two joined parchments. Dieppe 1627
ENGLISH WORD: “pen”, “stylographic pen”.
CURRENT MEANING: a pen is an implement for writing or drawing with ink or other fluid. Stylographic pens or stylos are a kind of pens with a conical point like that of a style. In English we preserve the word plume in the expression nom the plume, with the same meaning of a pen name, i.e., “the pseudonym used by an author”.
ORIGIN: pen and plume are related to Latin word penna “a feather, a plume”. There was a time in which the plumes began to be used to write over parchments, because they were more flexibles than the other writing instruments such as the calamus or the stylus. The word stylographic comes from Latin stylus and, at the same time, from Greek stylos, “column”, “burin”. It could be made of differents materials and the opposite end to the tip was used to scrape and delete.
Stylographic pen
"PAPER"
ENGLISH WORD: “paper”.
CURRENT MEANING: a writing support made from pulp of vegetable fibres dissolved in water and then subjected to a drying process.
ORIGIN: it derives from the Greek πάπυρος, through the Latin papyrus (via Catalonian paper). The Egyptians started to use the stems of plants that grew on the banks of the Nile River to make papyri where to write. In ancient times continued to be used the papyrus, gluing the leaves on to make rolls or volumes.
The biggest European colony of papyrus. Edges of the Ciane river.
The Osiris god receiving offerings. Egyptian papyrus. Jon Bodsworth. British Museum.