- smelt (v.)
- mid-15c. (implied in smelter), from Dutch or Low German smelten, cognate with Old High German smelzan, German schmelzen "to melt;" apparently a variant of the stem of Old English meltan "to melt" (see melt). Related: Smelted; smelting.
- smelt (n.)
- Old English smelt "small salmon-like sea fish," cognate with Dutch smelt "sand eel," Danish smelt (c.1600). OED notes that it has a peculiar odor (but doesn't suggest a connection with smell); Klein suggests a connection with the way the fish melts in one's mouth.