As the Holyrood elections grow ever nearer, hardly a day goes by without some media mention of the Scottish Parliament. Will the suggested number of MSPs be reduced? What powers will the Parliament have? Will Westminster try to diminish these? Which party is likely to be in power, and will it have an overall majority? Will the building being constructed to house it be a thing of architectural distinction or a blot on the Edinburgh landscape?

All these and other related issues will doubtless be done to death long before the MSPs take their seats. The danger is that we'll all be suffering from Parliament fatigue before the election and voters will become overwhelmed by their customary apathy. Perhaps that is the cunning motive behind all the public discussion.

According to the Origins of Everyday Things, published by Readers' Digest, we owe the concept of parliament to the Icelandics. As early as the tenth century, they established Althing, the name by which the Icelandic Parliament is still known today. It met only once a year and was attended by all of the island's 36 local chieftains. Their object was to discuss the country's business, or so they said; for all we know it might just have been an excuse for an annual boozy get-together.

Britain's Parliament is a descendant of the Curia Regis (King's Court), established in England in early medieval times as a body of advisers to the monarch. This consisted of the great and good in the land, the chief lords, the major landowners and the senior church leaders, but no members of the hoi poloi.

It was not until 1264 that the lower classes were given any say in the government of the land. On that date, Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, summoned the Knights of the Shires and the representatives of the larger towns to give their views. Further progress was made in 1295 when the first commoners were elected, as opposed to being selected arbitrarily to take part in what became known as the Model Parliament, an assembly of nobility, clergy and commoners summoned by Edward I, better known for his attempts to hammer the Scots. This set the pattern for future parliaments, although the English Parliament was not to gain law-making rights until the fifteenth century.

There are many people, and the number is probably growing by the minute, who feel that the average parliament is just a talking shop. This is extremely circumspect of them since the institution is related to the French Parler, to talk.

The word parliament is derived from old French Parlement, itself derived from Parler. It came into English in the thirteenth century, originally meaning talk or discussion, later meaning a consultative body and then a legislative body.

Most other countries have something in the way of a parliament, the name of this naturally usually reflecting the language and culture of the relevant country. Iceland, as we have seen, has its Althing. Likewise, Sweden has its Riksdag, Denmark its Folketing, Norway its Storting and Finland its Eduskunta. Similarly, Germany has its Bundestag, the Netherlands its Staten Generaal and Spain its Cortes. India has its Rajya Sabha (upper chamber) and Lok Sabha (lower chamber), Israel its Knesset and Mongolia its Khural.

All this talk of nomenclature for national assemblies gives pause for thought. Has anything been done about the name of the Scottish Parliament? After all, we're always hearing of the need to keep alive Scots and Gaelic languages. Any ideas? The parliaments of England or Britain may not have had exotic names, but several of them were given nicknames. One such was the Wonderful Parliament (1388). But before current MPs start thinking what a splendid, apt title this is, they should think again. It was also known as the Merciless Parliament, so-called because it ordered the execution of several knights, known to be friends or favourites of the King, Richard II.

The Club Parliament was not, as you might expect, one drawn entirely from the members of London gentlemen's clubs, so that one could be sure of getting the right class of person into parliament, but a parliament held at Northampton in 1426, the members of which, being forbidden to carry arms, chose to carry clubs instead. These were also known as bats and on alternative nickname was the Parliament of Bats. Good name, that.

The first parliament of the reign of Charles II, after the Restoration, was, not surprisingly, known as the Cavalier Parliament. It was also called the Pensioner Parliament, on account of the fact that so many of its members accepted bribes or pensions, an early example of cash for questions perhaps.

I know that it will shock some of you to the very toe-tips of your cotton socks to think that parliament was ever accused of ineptitude, but I'm afraid that this is indeed the case. The short-lasting parliament convened by Charles I in June 1625 was known as the Useless Parliament for its failure to do anything other than quarrel with the King.

Worse, in January 1661, there was convened at Edinburgh a parliament which was unfortunately known as the Drunken Parliament. The reason for this nickname was remarkably unsubtle - the members are said to have been drunk all the time. We can only hope that this does not herald the shape of things to come.