pollution n.

word-forming element meaning "forward, forth, toward the front" (as in proclaim, proceed); "beforehand, in advance" (prohibit, provide); "taking care of" (procure); "in place of, on behalf of" (proconsul, pronoun); from Latin pro (adv., prep.) "on behalf of, in place of, before, for, in exchange for, just as," which also was used as a first element in compounds and had a collateral form por-.

Also in some cases from cognate Greek pro "before, in front of, sooner," which also was used in Greek as a prefix (as in problem). Both the Latin and Greek words are from PIE *pro- (source also of Sanskrit pra- "before, forward, forth;" Gothic faura "before," Old English fore "before, for, on account of," fram "forward, from;" Old Irish roar "enough"), extended form of root *per- (1) "forward," hence "in front of, before, toward, near," etc.

The common modern sense of "in favor of, favoring" (pro-independence, pro-fluoridation, pro-Soviet, etc.) was not in classical Latin and is attested in English from early 19c.

"muddy, covered with clay," from Latin lutosus, from lutum "mud, dirt, mire, clay," from Proto-Italic *luto-, *lustro-, from PIE *l(h)u-to- "dirt," *l(h)u-(s)tro- "dirty place," from root *leu- "dirt; make dirty" (cognates: Greek lythron "gore, clotted blood," lyma "dirty water; moral filth, disgrace," lymax "rubbish, refuse," lyme "maltreatment, damage;" Latin lues "filth;" Old Irish loth "mud, dirt;" Welsh lludedic "muddy, slimy; Albanian lum "slime, mud;" Lithuanian liūtynas "loam pit").

Hence also English lute (n.) as a type of tenacious clay or cement used to stop holes, seal joints, etc. (c. 1400), from Old French lut or Medieval Latin lutum, from the Latin noun. Lute also was a verb in English.

late 14c., polluten, "to defile, violate the sanctity of, render ceremonially unclean," a back formation from pollution, or else from Latin pollutus, past participle of polluere "to defile, pollute, contaminate." Related: Polluted; polluting. Meaning "make physically foul" is from 1540s; specific sense "contaminate the environment" emerged by 1860, but was not yet in the 1895 Century Dictionary.