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mas·si·cot

(măsĭ-kŏt′, -kō′)

See litharge.

[Middle English masticot, from Middle French massicot, marcicotte, perhaps ultimately partly from Arabic martak, litharge (probably from Middle Persian murdag, dead (probably used metaphorically of the byproducts of smelting; compare Persian murdāsang, dross of lead: murda, dead + sang, stone), from Old Persian marta-, from mariya-, to die; see mer- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots) and partly from Old Italian marzacotto, potter's glaze of lead oxide, sand, and potash (from alteration (influenced by Old Italian cotto, cooked) of Arabic masḥaqūnīyā, from Syriac mešāḥ qunyā, glaze of ashes : Syriac mešāḥ, unguent, salve from mšaḥ, to anoint; see mšḥ in Semitic roots + Greek koniā, ashes, sand; akin to Latin cinis, ashes).]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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