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smalto - n., colored glass or enamel used in a mosaic, or a piece of same.
That is, it can be the material or an instance. Pronounced SMAHL-toh or SMAWL-toh, or with an initial z sound if you're giving it an Italianate edge -- which you might because it was borrowed from Italian circa 1700, from a Germanic root (I assume Lombardic or Gothic) conjectured to be *smalt-, meaning something melted. Which incidentally is also the root of enamel, only that was passed through Frankic to Anglo-Normal and so to Middle English, gaining an initial e- and then losing the -s-. Amazing what humans do with their words, innit.
---L.
That is, it can be the material or an instance. Pronounced SMAHL-toh or SMAWL-toh, or with an initial z sound if you're giving it an Italianate edge -- which you might because it was borrowed from Italian circa 1700, from a Germanic root (I assume Lombardic or Gothic) conjectured to be *smalt-, meaning something melted. Which incidentally is also the root of enamel, only that was passed through Frankic to Anglo-Normal and so to Middle English, gaining an initial e- and then losing the -s-. Amazing what humans do with their words, innit.
---L.
