This adjective describes water or liquid containing salt, being saline or brackish. In James 3:12, the rhetorical question asks whether a spring can produce both fresh and 'salty' water, arguing for consistency between profession and practice. Classical Greek used it for salt content and brackish water. The multilingual glosses (Spanish 'salada', German 'salzig') confirm this qualitative sense. James's point assumes the impossibility of one source yielding both sweet and saline water, applying this to speech's moral character.