What is Latin for mud?
I can only think of Classical maltha, V. Malta (no connection
with the name of the island, which comes from Greek Melite).
I remember now that the main terms fo mud in Latin are, first,
lutum (also with the meaning of "clay") which finds its commonest
cognate in Modern English in "pollution" and in medical English in
"lues" (syphilis), and, second, limus (especially river mud) which
has a cognate in Modern English slime, the initial sibilization of
which is a hallmark of the affinity of English with the Slavic
languages, as also attested for example in such a Russian word as
sletat, sletet, "to fly", but also "to fall", as from stairs or a
horse. (See for example my blog,
http://thegnosticedda.blogspot.com, on the early semantic
convergence of gliding, flying and falling). It can be broadly
argued that terms for "impurity" in IE languages have a
psychological element of the apotropaic as a personable afferent
and therefore are applied liberally to anything (physical)
considered "unclean" without regard as to its nature. Therefore one
can possibly include ME "lime" and "loam" in that category as a
cognate, i.e. both a linguistic and a psychological one. However, a
word of caution is in place here, as a continual preoccupation
along these lines incurs a serious risk of disintegration of one's
concept of language.
