Editing Sable (section)

==Etymology==
The name ''sable'' appears to be of [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] origin and entered most [[Western Europe]]an languages via the early medieval fur trade.<ref>“sable, n., etymology of” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. http://dictionary.oed.com/. Accessed: 11-2-2008</ref> Thus the [[Russian language|Russian]] {{lang|ru|соболь}} ({{lang|ru-Latn|sobol'}}) and [[Polish language|Polish]] {{lang|pl|soból}} became the [[German language|German]] {{lang|de|Zobel}}, [[Dutch language|Dutch]] {{lang|nl|sabel}}; the [[French language|French]] {{lang|fr|zibeline}}, [[Spanish language|Spanish]] {{lang|es|cibelina, cebellina}}, [[Finnish language|Finnish]] {{lang|fi|soopeli}}, [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] {{lang|pt|zibelina}} and [[Medieval Latin]] {{lang|la|zibellina}} derive from the [[Italian language|Italian]] form ({{lang|it|zibellino}}). The [[English language|English]] and Medieval Latin word {{lang|la|sabellum}} comes from the [[Old French]] {{lang|fro|sable}} or {{lang|fro|saible}}.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle = Sable|volume=23|page=966}}</ref>

The term has become a generic description for some black-furred animal breeds, such as sable [[cat]]s or [[rabbit]]s, and for the [[sable (heraldry)|colour black]] in [[heraldry]].