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The Word of the Day for February 4 is:

                   zibeline • \ZIH-buh-leen\  • (noun):
                     a soft lustrous wool fabric with mohair, alpaca, or camel's hair

                   Example sentence:
                     "The zibeline coat I had as a girl was so elegant," said Bernadette's
                     grandmother, "that it only came out of the closet on special occasions."
 



 
 
 
 

Did you know?
You might expect the name for a fabric that is made 
from the hair of sheep,
                     Angora goats, alpacas, and camels 
to have something to do with one of these
                     animals, but "zibeline" will surprise you. 

It actually traces back to a Slavic word for the sable 
(a small mammal related to the weasel). 
The Slavic term was adopted into Old Italian, 
and from there it passed to Middle French, 
then on to English. 

In our language, "zibeline" originally referred 
to the sable or its fur, but by the 1890s 
it had developed a second sense applying to a soft,
                     smooth, slightly furry material created 
by the mixture of wool and mohair,
  alpaca, or camel's hair. 

Quelle

fri2003

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