Meaning

noun mud or clay or small rocks deposited by a river or lake

verb become chocked with silt

originPIE word *sḗh₂l From Middle English silte, cilte, cylte, perhaps from Middle English silen ("to filter; strain"; equivalent to sile + -t), or cognate with Norwegian and Danish sylt (“salt marsh”), Middle Low German sulte (“salt-marsh”), German Sülze (“meat in aspic”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *sultijō (“salty water; brine”). Related to Old English sealt (“salt”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0