A pencil has never contained the element lead, but still retains the name
![A pencil has never contained the element lead, but still retains the name](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5983dc02d7bdcee0bc8e54bf/1501818753024-CGVB67NDORZ70XXIKQM5/image-asset.jpeg)
Prior to 1565 (some sources say as early as 1500), a large deposit of graphite was discovered on the approach to Grey Knotts from the hamlet of Seathwaite in Borrowdale parish, Cumbria, England.[4][5][6][7] The locals found that it was very useful for marking sheep.[citation needed] This particular deposit of graphite was extremely pure and solid, and it could easily be sawn into sticks. This remains the only large-scale deposit of graphite ever found in this solid form.[8] Chemistry was in its infancy and the substance was thought to be a form of lead. Consequently, it was called plumbago (Latin for "lead ore").[9][10] The black core of pencils is still referred to as lead, even though it never contained the element lead.[citation needed] The words for pencil in German (Bleistift), Irish (Peann Luaidhe), Arabic (قلم رصاص qalam raṣāṣ), and other languages literally mean lead pen.
@Curionic
#staycurious