n
as the _polonaise_ took its name from Poland, and was really a Polish
dance. The well-known Italian dance called the _tarantella_ took its
name from the South Italian town Tarento.

The word _canter_, which describes another kind of movement, comes
from Canterbury. _Canter_ is only the short for "Canterbury gallop,"
an expression which was used to describe the slow jogging pace at
which many pilgrims in the Middle Ages rode along the Canterbury road
to pray at the famous shrine of St. Thomas Becket in that city.

Several fruits take their names from places. The _damson_, which used
in the Middle Ages to be called the "damascene," was called in Latin
_prunum damascenum_, or "plum of Damascus." The name _peach_ comes to
us from the Late Latin word _pessica_, which was a bad way of saying
"Persica." _Currants_ used to be known as "raisins of Corauntz," or
Corinth raisins.

_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 h