esmail / esmal

The English word enamel comes from Anglo-Norman enamailler, from Old French esmail, which derives from Frankish *smalt (enamel, melted glass), related to Old High German smelzan (to smelt, to melt). The word is about the process: melting. Enamel is powdered glass applied to a metal surface and fired in a kiln until the glass particles fuse into a smooth, glassy coating. If the temperature is too low, the glass does not fuse. Too high, the colors burn out. The margin of error is narrow.

The technique is ancient. Egyptian enameled jewelry dates to the thirteenth century BCE. Byzantine cloisonné enamel — where thin metal strips form cells filled with colored glass paste — reached its peak in the tenth and eleventh centuries. The Pala d'Oro in Venice's St. Mark's Basilica, completed around 1105, contains nearly a hundred Byzantine enamel panels. Each panel is a miniature painting in glass, fired onto gold. The word enamel entered Western European languages through contact with Byzantine craftsmanship.

Limoges, in central France, became the European center of enamel production in the twelfth century. Limoges champlevé enamel — where troughs are carved into metal and filled with glass — was exported across Christendom. Reliquaries, crosses, and altar furnishings in Limoges enamel survive in museums and churches throughout Europe. The city's name became synonymous with the technique. A word from Frankish Germanic, naming a Byzantine Greek technique, became French.

Enamel is now everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. The white coating on bathtubs, the glossy finish on cookware, the colored surface of road signs — all are enamel. The word has democratized from sacred art to household utility. The Frankish word for melting now describes your kitchen sink.