English

Noun

smalto ‎(plural smalti)

1. A piece of coloured glass used in mosaic.
   • 1848, The Yearbook of Facts in Science and Art, Simpkin, Marshall, and Company, page 86:

     This is done by striking the smalto with a sharp-edged hammer, directly over a similar edge, placed vertically beneath.

   • 1857, “The applications of improved machinery and materials to art-manufacture”, in The Art Journal, page 112:

     The smalto is thus broken as far as possible into the form desired, and it is afterwards ground with emery powder upon a lead wheel until the precise size and form are obtained.

   • 2005, Reham Aarti Jacobsen, Mosaics for the First Time, page 38:

     Press the smalti into the adhesive in a rainbow pattern along the frame, with as small a gap as possible between the pieces.

Italian

Etymology

From Frankish *smalt, from Late Latin smaltum. Compare German schmelzen ‎(“to melt”).

Noun

smalto m ‎(plural smalti)

1. enamel (all senses)
2. glaze
3. (heraldry) tincture

   Gli cinque smalti dell'araldica sono rosso, azzurro, nero, verde e porpora‎

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Descendants

• Russian: сма́льта ‎(smálʹta)

Verb

smalto

1. first-person singular present indicative of smaltare