Soot or a dark powdery substance produced by combustion, especially the residue from smoke.
From Latin 'fuligo,' possibly related to an Indo-European root meaning to smoke or be dark. In Medieval usage, it specifically meant soot or lampblack used in inks and pigments.
Medieval monks knew fuligo intimately—they made their black inks from soot scraped off pot bottoms, meaning every beautiful illuminated manuscript was literally written in lampblack.
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