This base type indubitably goes back to Latin; cf. Georges under tēla 'weave'. There are cognates for this term in the entire Romanesque language area, such as Ron. teară 'warp', Ita. tela 'weave', Piedmontese teila, Fr. toile, Rm. (Engadine) taila, Friulan tele, Es. tela or Por. teia. Apart from its original meaning, tēla developed a further specification denoting 'skin, encasement'. The mentioned metaphorical derivations 'SKIN ON THE MILK, CREAM' are nicely displayed on the map of tela. They can also be found elsewhere, like in Old Provencal teleta 'PEAU QUI SE FORME SUR LE LAIT CUIT' or Aromanian teară 'SKIN ON THE MILK' (cf. FEW under tēla 13/1: 158-162 and REW 8620 under tēla). A similarly inspired metaphor would be *nīta.