In the UK, muslin is the name for a very fine, almost transparent cotton fabric. It was used for ladies' garments, light weight curtains, hangings, etc. The first use of the word in England dates to the early seventeenth century and is related to the French term mousseline and the Italian mussolina and musselo, allegedly referring to the town of Mosul (in modern northern Iraq), or to the Indian port of Masulipatnam.