Talk:мумиё

mineral pitch
Also known simply as mineral pitch (the word is closely related to "mumiyah" - Arabic for bitumen.)

There is not a single, commonly accepted English term (shilajeet and mumiyo being the most common), but it is known to those interested in esoteric substances under the above names, and a few others that can be found in Indian, Chinese and Tibetan books on natural medicine. Ayurvedic medicine makes extensive use of it as a natural tonic and sometimes even an aphrodisiac. I used to market mumiyo in the States in the early 80s and I found that the best sources of supply and information on the product were in India. If I look through my archives, I could probably find spectrographic analysis info on the product, listing many of the organic and inorganic substances found in it, some of them rather toxic (arsenic, mercury, etc.)

The Russian мумиё originates from the Arabic mumiyah meaning mummy (not the dead body - see Webster's), bitumen. Algarites are a unique group of natural formations of a carbohydate-protein composition genetically akin to bitumens and have been called "mumiyo" in Asian folk medicine since ancient times. It contains more than 20 elements, solid paraffins, proteins, carbohydrates, amino acids, fatty acids, alcohols, etc.

Have used the term for many decades, the most complete source being Geologicheskii slovar', Vol. 1, Izd. User:92.41.147.209 14:53, 23 December 2009 (UTC)