A variant or alternate form of ermine, the small weasel or its prized white fur used in royal and noble garments.
From Old French 'hermine' with English suffix variations; different Middle English scribes spelled the word differently, and some variants like 'ermiline' persist in historical texts and heraldry.
You'll see 'ermiline,' 'ermelin,' 'ermine,' and five other spellings in medieval documents—standardized spelling didn't really exist back then, so the same animal could be spelled a dozen ways in the same manuscript!
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