Stilus

“Stilus or Stylus conveys the general idea of an object tapering like an architectural column. It signifies: 1. An iron instrument, resembling a pencil in size and shape, used for writing upon waxed tablets. At one end it was sharpened to a point for scratching the characters upon the wax, while the other end, being flat and circular, served to render the surface of the tablets smooth again, and so to obliterate what had been written. Thus, vertere stilum means to erase, and hence to correct. The stylus was also termed graphium, and the case in which it was kept graphiarium. 2. A sharp stake or spike placed in pitfalls before an entrenchment, to embarrass the progress of an attacking enemy.” — Smith, 1873

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