_Parchment_ gets its name from Pergamum, a city in Asia Minor. _Pistol_ came into English from the Old French word _pistole_, and this came from an Italian word, _pistolese_, which meant "made at Pistoja." We do not think of _spaniels_ as foreign dogs; but the name means "Spanish," having come into English from the Old French word _espagneul_, with that meaning. A derivation which it would be even harder to guess is that of the word _spruce_. We now use this word to describe a kind of leather, a kind of ginger beer, and a variety of the fir tree, and also in the same sense as "spick and span." The word used to be _pruce_, and meant "Prussia." The name of the famous London fish-market, _Billingsgate_, has long been used to mean very violent and abusive language supposed to resemble the scoldings of the fishwomen in the market. Another word describing a certain kind of speaking, and which also comes from the name of a place, is _bunkum_. When a person tells a story which we feel sure is not true, or tells a long tale to excuse himself from doing something, we often say it is all "bunkum." This word comes from the name of the American town of Buncombe, in North Carolina, and came into use through the member for Buncombe in the House of Representatives insisting on making a speech just when every one else wanted to proceed with the voting on a bill. He knew that he had nothing of importance to say, but explained that he must make a speech "for Buncombe"--that is, so that the people of Buncombe, who had elected him, might know that he was doing his duty by them. And so the expression _bunkum_ came into use. Another word which may go with these, because it also begins with the letter _b_, is _bedlam_. We describe a scene of great noise and confusion, as when a number of children insist on talking all together, as a "perfect bedlam." The word _bedlam_ comes from Bethlehem. In the Middle Ages there was a hospital in London kept by monks of the Order of St. Mary of Bethlehem. In time this house came to be known as "Bedlam," and as after a while the hospital came to be an asylum for mad people, this name came to be used for any lunatic asylum. From that it came to have its modern use of any great noise or confusion.