means A writing surface made from treated animal skin, or by extension a stiff, aged-looking paper made to resemble it.

from From Old French parchemin, which came through Latin from pergamena, 'paper of Pergamon' — the ancient city in Asia Minor famous for producing this writing material. The popular tale says Pergamon perfected skin-based writing surfaces when a rival cut off its papyrus supply; whether or not that drama is true, the city genuinely gave its name to the stuff. A later folk reshaping confused pergamena with the unrelated 'Parthian,' nudging the spelling toward 'parch-.'