ruskin

1) A squirrel skin imported from or via the Baltic, particularly the fur of an animal trapped in the summer (EMV228).

Examples taken from goods imported into Hull from Danzig include: 1453 2 tymbres roskyn

1490 ˝ dakar russkyns. The OED has an example from 1287 without an explanation of the etymology so Veale’s reference to squirrel skins called ‘ruswerk’ which were Russian skins is worth noting.

places Hull
dates 1287 1453 1490

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Photo by Kreuzschnabel CC BY-SA 3.0