parchment, untanned skins of animals, especially of the sheep, calf, and goat, prepared for use as a writing material. The name is a corruption of Pergamum, the ancient city of Asia Minor where preparation of parchment suitable for use on both sides was achieved in the 2d cent. B.C. Parchment, which is more durable than papyrus and susceptible of being folded into book form, very gradually superseded papyrus. In Europe it gave way to paper for use in books only after the advent of printing. The skins were soaked in water, treated with lime to loosen the hair, scraped, washed, stretched, and dried, and then rubbed with chalk and pumice stone. A fine grade prepared from the skin of the calf or kid became known as vellum, a name applied during the Middle Ages to any parchment used in manuscripts. For important manuscripts vellum was often dyed purple. Parchment is still used for certain documents and diplomas, for bookbindings and lampshades, and for the heads of drums, tambourines, and banjos. Vegetable parchment is paper treated to make it tough, translucent, and impervious to water.

Processed skins of certain animals (chiefly sheep, goats, and calves) that have been prepared for the purpose of writing on them. Parchment was probably invented in Greece in the 2nd century BC. Skins had been used for writing material even earlier (circa 2400 BC), but the new, more thorough method of cleaning, stretching, and scraping made possible the use of both sides of a manuscript leaf, leading to the replacement of the rolled manuscript by the bound book (codex). Especially fine parchment is known as vellum. In modern usage, the terms “parchment” and “vellum” are sometimes used for a type of high-quality paper.

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