muslin

Although not always considered to be a fine, lightweight cotton fabric, muslin is thin and sheer.  The name comes from mussolin which was woven in Mosul, a city in the northern tip of Iraq near the boarder with Turkey on the river Tigis. Muslin is produced in India and many Hindi names are used to describe it: malmal, mallmol or mulmull from which the word mull is derived.  There are several other local Indian names used to describe different muslins: alabalee, ajiji, alliabably, jhuna, shabnam and sullah.  Book binding muslin has a hard, stiff finish, but not a true muslin. See Dacca muslin.