On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 17:26:42 GMT, wrote:

Not to be a stickler, but pencils are made with graphite - not lead.
Where the term 'lead' came from is a real question.

Silvery grey "plumbago" (common name for mineral graphite) is from the
Latin "plumbum", as the lead ore galena is similar in appearance. Both
were found locally to each other in Westmoreland, "Blacklead" is just an
Anglicisation of this name.