:this article describes the heraldic tincture sable. for other uses, see sable (disambiguation). right|122px|sable tincture in heraldry, sable () is the tincture black, and belongs to the class of dark tinctures, called "colours". in engravings and line drawings, it is sometimes depicted as a region of crossed horizontal and vertical lines or else marked with sa. as an abbreviation. the name derives from the black fur of the sable, an animal. ==poetic meanings== centuries ago, arms were often described poetically and the tinctures were connected to different gemstones, flowers and heavenly bodies. sable usually represented the following: * of jewels, the diamond * of heavenly bodies, saturn * of flowers, the herb nightshade, in these circumstances also called dwal ==sable in central europe== right|122px|thumb|the arms of albania.  sable is considered a colour in british and french heraldry, and contrasts with lighter metals, argent and or. however, in the heraldry of germany, polish heraldry and other parts of central europe, sable is not infrequently placed on colour fields. as a result, a sable cross may appear on a red shield, or a sable bird may appear on a blue or a red field, as in the arms of albania. in hungary, for example, one can find examples of sable on gules and azure fields as early as the sixteenth century in the arms of the family kanizsai (granted in 1519): "Ã¡llÃ³, csÃ¼cskÃ¶s talpÃº tÃ¡rcsapajzs kÃ©k mezejÃ©ben, lebegÅ arany saslÃ¡bon fekete sasszÃ¡rny, jobbrÃ³l ezÃ¼st fÃ©lholdtÃ³l, balrÃ³l nyolcÃ¡gÃº arany csillagtÃ³l kÃ­sÃ©rve." (that is: azure, an eagle's wing sable taloned or between a decrescent argent and a sun or.) another early hungarian example was granted in 1628 to the family karomi bornemisza: "Ã¡llÃ³, tojÃ¡sdad pajzs vÃ¡gott, felsÅ vÃ¶rÃ¶s mezejÃ©ben jobbra fordult fejÅ±, vÃ¡gÃ¡svonalon Ã¡llÃ³, koronÃ¡s fekete sas, az alsÃ³ kÃ©k mezÅben fekete bÃ¶lÃ©nyfej, szÃ¡jÃ¡ban hallall." (that is: per fess gules, an eagle dis
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