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abaculus (uh-BAK-yuh-luhs) (pl. abaculi) - n., a mosaic tile.
A small tile of glass, marble, or other substance, of various colors. Also known as an abaciscus (pl. abacisci) or tessera (pl. tesserae). Both abaculus and abaciscus are diminutives (formed in Latin and Greek, respectively) of abacus, the counting board, while tessera comes from the Latin for a six-sided die (because many tesserae are cubical), from the Greek for four (I'm guessing because a cube has square sides?).
---L.
A small tile of glass, marble, or other substance, of various colors. Also known as an abaciscus (pl. abacisci) or tessera (pl. tesserae). Both abaculus and abaciscus are diminutives (formed in Latin and Greek, respectively) of abacus, the counting board, while tessera comes from the Latin for a six-sided die (because many tesserae are cubical), from the Greek for four (I'm guessing because a cube has square sides?).
---L.
