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==Etymology== ''Pen name'' is formed by joining [[pen]] with [[name]]. Its earliest use in English is in the 1860s, in the writings of [[Bayard Taylor]].<ref>https://www.oed.com/dictionary/pen-name_n</ref> The French-language phrase {{lang|fr|nom de plume}} is used as a synonym for "pen name"<ref name="nom-de-plume">{{cite web | url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/nom-de-plume_n | title=Nom de plume, n. Meanings, etymology and more | Oxford English Dictionary }}</ref> ({{lang|fr|plume}} means 'pen'). However, it is not the French usage, according to [[H. W. Fowler]] and F. G. Fowler in ''[[The King's English]]'', but instead a "back-translation" from English. The French usage is ''[[Pseudonym#Noms de guerre|nom de guerre]]'' (a more generalised term for 'pseudonym').<ref>{{cite book |title=The King's English |chapter=1 (Foreign Words, #5) |page=43 |last1=Fowler|first1=H. W.|last2=Fowler|first2=F. G.}}</ref> Since {{lang|fr|guerre}} means 'war' in French, {{lang|fr|nom de guerre}} confused some English speakers, who "corrected" the French metaphor.<ref>{{cite book |author=Fowler, H. W. |title=[[Modern English Usage]]}}</ref> This phrase precedes "pen name", being attested to ''[[The Knickerbocker]]'', in 1841.<ref name="nom-de-plume"/>
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