saffian

English

Etymology

Russian сафья́н (safʹján)

Noun

saffian (countable and uncountable, plural saffians)

1. A leather made from goatskins or sheepskins which is tanned with sumac and then brightly dyed.
   • 1980, Gene Wolfe, chapter VI, in The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun; 1), New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 67:

     One of the three volumes Cyby had brought was as large as the top of a small table […] ; from the arms impressed upon its saffian cover, I supposed it to be the history of some old noble family.