![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordzibeline (ZIB-uh-lin, ZIB-uh-leen) - adj., of, pertaining to, or resembling a sable or its pelt. n., sable fur; a soft thick woolen fabric with a long nap.
The last presumably for resemblance to the fur. The sable being a species of martin (a type of weasel) of Russia and parts neighboring that is prized for its fur. Zibeline comes from the same Slavic root as sable, only passed through Italian and Middle French to arrive in English in the 1580s instead of through Low German and Old French to arrive around 1300.
---L.
The last presumably for resemblance to the fur. The sable being a species of martin (a type of weasel) of Russia and parts neighboring that is prized for its fur. Zibeline comes from the same Slavic root as sable, only passed through Italian and Middle French to arrive in English in the 1580s instead of through Low German and Old French to arrive around 1300.
---L.
