What does «armiño» mean in Spanish?
- Another common name for a mammal with very soft and delicate fur, brown in summer and very white in winter except for the tip of the tail, which is always black. This name is used for a certain weasel (Mustela arminea), especially when it acquires its white winter fur. The true stoat lives in central and northern Europe, reaching as far as Spain, where it is only found in the mountains of the north of the Peninsula and never in the south of the Ebro valley. They are also found in Asia and northern America.
- Its fur. In fur trade, the winter fur of any weasel, whose coloration is white except at the apex of the tail, which is black, is usually called ermine. Most of the furs in trade that bear the name ermine come from two or more species living in northern Canada, although they are also imported from northern Russia and Siberia. Ermine fur has been widely used to adorn the robes of high dignitaries; this is the reason for its special heraldic significance.
- In Heraldry, figure of the coat of arms.