'Pen' is Latin for 'feather' — named for goose-feather quills. From a PIE root meaning 'to fly.'
An instrument for writing or drawing with ink, originally made from a cut and shaped feather quill.
From Middle English 'penne,' from Old French 'pene' (feather, quill pen), from Latin 'penna' meaning 'feather, wing.' Latin 'penna' is a contraction of 'petna,' from PIE *pet-na, from the root *pet- ('to rush, to fly'). The word originally meant 'feather' in Latin and was applied to the writing instrument because quill pens were