[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).]