The term parchment was first documented in the early fourteenth-century romantic epic Beves of Hamtoun, where it was written as parchemin. Over time, variations of the word emerged such as parchmen, parchemyne, parchmine, parchemet, parchment, and parchemyn before eventually settling on parchment in the fifteenth century. Contrary to popular belief, the word is not related to parch or the noun-forming suffix –ment (despite the addition of the t due to confusion with the suffix); rather, it can be traced back to the Latin word pergamena and the Ancient Greek term Pergamon, referring to a city in western Anatolia where the substitute material for papyrus is believed to have been developed. The city was supposedly named after Pergamus, a legendary warrior who founded it.
