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Vair (; from Latin ''varius'' "variegated") is a pattern in heraldry. It represents a kind of fur common in the Middle Ages, made from the greyish-blue backs of squirrels sewn together with the animals' white underbellies. Vair is the second-most common fur in heraldry, after ermine. ==Origins== The word ''vair'', with its variant forms ''veir'' and ''vairé'', was brought into Middle English from Old French, from Latin ''varius'' "variegated", and has been alternatively termed ''variorum opus'' (Latin, meaning "variegated work").〔Veale, Elspeth M.: ''The English Fur Trade in the Later Middle Ages'', p. 224.〕 The squirrel in question is a variety of the Eurasian red squirrel, ''Sciurus vulgaris''. In the coldest parts of Northern and Central Europe, especially the Baltic region, the winter coat of this squirrel is blue-grey on the back and white on the belly, and was much used for the lining of cloaks called ''mantles''. It was sewn together in alternating cup-shaped pieces of back and belly fur, resulting in a pattern of grey-blue and grey-white which, when simplified in heraldic drawing and painting, became blue and white in alternating pieces.〔 Image:Squirrel germany.jpg|Dark morph of Eurasian red squirrel Image:Geoffrey of Anjou Monument.jpg|Enamel image from the tomb of Geoffrey, Count of Anjou showing a vair-lined mantle 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「vair」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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