Latin stylus for stilus from stiglus, 'a stake; stylus (for writing); style (a kind of writing)'; cf. English stick, Greek stigma.

Greek graphein is cognate with English crab, cray(fish), and English carve..

Latin scribere, which I believe is the origin of all the other Germanic words for 'to write': cf. German schreiben.

Graphein and scribere both come from roots that have to do with carving or scraping. Our write comes from a root that means to shred or tear; cf. German reissen.

Cribbed from the American-Heritage Dictionary online and Pokorny. Writing was violent in the good old days.