This is a great article that traces the history of a great yarn and fiber…Chenille.

Chenille means caterpillar in English, forever linking the fuzzy insects that one day become either a moth or butterfly with fluffy yarn and fabrics. The French word was known early on in the United States and can be found in translations of French periodicals from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Chenille yarns begin as fabric, with very loosely spun yarns used as the weft in a leno weave fabric. Read more!