Penning
/ˈpɛnɪŋ/noun
The act of writing or composing, or the act of enclosing animals in a pen.
Did you know?The writing sense ultimately comes from Latin penna, “feather,” because early writing pens were literally sharpened bird feathers; the animal-enclosure sense comes from a completely unrelated Germanic word.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*pet-
“To rush or fly; a proposed ancestral root connected with feathers and flight.”
Classical Latin
Latin
penna
“A feather or wing; later, a writing feather or quill.”
Middle English
English
penne
“A quill or writing instrument, borrowed through French and Latin traditions.”
Old English
Old English
penn
“An enclosure, fold, or area where animals are confined; unrelated to the feather word.”
Middle English
English
pen
“To write with a pen, or to enclose animals in a pen.”
Modern English
English
penning
“Writing or composing, or enclosing animals, formed with the modern -ing suffix.”