mysterious fabric

[Klinela at COMCAST.NET]

I looked online and "maleskin", a variant of "moleskin", exists, and is very close to "malestin." The form "moleskinovyj" also exists (cf. malestinovyj), and I found one document with "maleskinovyj" in a Google search. Maybe "malestin" is just a regional variant of "moleskin"? 



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Deborah Hoffman" <lino59 at AMERITECH.NET> 
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu 
Sent: Monday, April 20, 2009 1:34:17 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: [SEELANGS] mysterious fabric 

Dear Seelangovtsy! 
  
I was wondering whether any of you may have encountered a fabric known as malestin (малестин). 
  
The context is: a family is in exile after having been dekulakized, and the mother turns an old coat out of this material into a jacket for her daughter. "Mne mama sshila iz staroi malestinovoi kurtki-spetsovki pal'to." 
  
No living person I've encountered seem to know what it is, and some claim the word does not exist in Russian or I otherwise must have been mistaken, so I'm thinking it must be obscure and/or obsolete. 
  
I've found only 2 references online (and none on paper) 
  
here: http://kazaki-sc2.narod.ru/exc1.html 
«В летние школьные каникулы нас гусей у священника за трёхразовое питание, малестиновые штаны и ситцевую рубашку, которые получал к началу занятий в школе осенью.» 
  
and here: http://libsi.liim.ru/creations/f-003/f-003-05.html 
<<Переводил деньги домой родителям, рублей 500 перевел, одежду хорошую завел: костюм, сапоги лакированные, рубашки и штаны малестиновые широкие>> 
  
Any tips welcome - moleskin has been suggested but I always thought of that as a more delicate fabric than these usages would suggest. 
  
Thanks in advance, 
Deborah 
  
  
Deborah Hoffman, Esq. 
Modern and Classical Language Studies 
Vice-Chair, Graduate Student Senate 
Kent State University 

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