About Flatlander's post:

chiaro = light, or clear, and scuro = dark. Therefore, chiaroscuro = lightdark.

Also fumare is to smoke, and the s- prefix means something like "to make _____" so sfumato will mean "made smoky". Kind of. Actually, Italian words which start with the s- prefix are so much more compact than whatever they might be translated as in English. I'm rather fond of them.