a fine earthenware pottery, reddish-brown or black in colour, found in large quantities on Roman sites
2. Also called: Arretine ware
the earlier pottery from which this developed, an imitation of a type of Greek pottery, made during the first century bc at Arretium
Word origin
C19: named after the island of Samos, source of a reddish-coloured earth resembling terra sigillata, similar to the earthfrom which the pottery was made