Online Etymology Dictionary

salt (n.): O.E. sealt (n. and adj.), from P.Gmc. *saltom (cf. O.S., O.N., O.Fris., Goth. salt, Du. zout, Ger. Salz), from PIE *sal- "salt" (cf. Gk. hals (gen. halos) "salt, sea," L. sal, O.C.S. soli, O.Ir. salann, Welsh halen, O.C.S. sali "salt"). Meaning "experienced sailor" is first attested 1840, in ref. to the salinity of the sea. Salt was long regarded as having power to repel spiritual and magical evil. Many metaphoric uses reflect that this was once a rare and important resource, cf. worth one's salt (1830), salt of the earth (O.E., after Matt. v:13). Belief that spilling salt brings bad luck is attested from 16c. To be above (or below) the salt (1597) refers to customs of seating at a long table according to rank or honor, and placing a large salt-cellar in the middle of the dining table. The verb is from O.E. sealtan, from P.Gmc. *salto-. Salt-lick first recorded 1751; salt marsh is O.E. sealtne mersc. Salt-and-pepper "of dark and light color" first recorded 1915. To take something with a grain of salt is from 1647, from Mod.L. cum grano salis. Saltine "salted cracker" is from 1907; salt-water taffy (1894) so called because it originally was sold at seashore resorts, esp. Atlantic City, N.J.
salty: c.1440, "tasting of salt, impregnated with salt," from salt. Meaning "racy" is from 1866, from salt in the sense of "that which gives life or pungency" (1573, originally of words or wit). U.S. slang sense of "angry, irritated" is first attested 1938, especially in phrase jump salty "to unexpectedly become enraged."
saltcellar: 1434, from salt + Anglo-Norm. *saler "saltcellar" (14c.), from O.Fr. salier "salt box," from L. salarium, from a dim. of L. sal "salt." As the connection between *saler and "salt" was lost, salt- was tacked on to the beginning; second element altered on model of cellar.
saltpeter: "potassium nitrate," c.1500, earlier salpetre (early 14c.), from O.Fr. salpetre, from M.L. sal petrae "salt of rock," from L. sal "salt" (see salt) + petra "rock, stone." So called because it looks like salt encrusted on rock.
saltbox: "receptacle for keeping salt for domestic use," 1611, from salt (n.) + box (n.). As a type of frame house, 1876, so called from resemblance of shape.
salt river: a tidal river, 1659; as a proper name, used early 19c. with ref. to backwoods inhabitants of the U.S., especially Kentucky. U.S. political slang phrase to row (someone) up Salt River "send (someone) to political defeat" probably owes its origin to this, as the first attested use (1828) is in a Kentucky context.
SALT: Cold War U.S.-U.S.S.R. nuclear weapons negotiations, 1968, acronym for "Strategic Arms Limitation Talks." The last element sometimes also is understood as treaty.
saline: 1450, probably from a Latin word related to salinum "salt cellar" and salinæ "salt pits," from sal (gen. salis) "salt" (see salt).
souse: late 14c., "to pickle, steep in vinegar," from O.Fr. sous (adj.) "preserved in salt and vinegar," from Frank. *sultja (related to O.Saxon sultia "salt water"), from P.Gmc. *salt-, *sult- (see salt). The noun meaning "pig parts preserved and pickled" is recorded from late 14c. The adj. soused "drunk" is first recorded 1610s, on notion of one "pickled" in liquor.
salary (n.): late 14c., from Anglo-Fr. salarie (c.1280), O.Fr. salarie, from L. salarium "salary, stipend," originally "soldier's allowance for the purchase of salt," from neut. of adj. salarius "pertaining to salt," from sal (gen. salis) "salt" (see salt). Japanese sarariman "male salaried worker," lit. "salary-man," is from Eng. The verb meaning "to pay a regular salary to" is attested from late 15c.
sal: chemical name for salt, late 14c., from O.Fr. sal, from L. sal (gen. salis) "salt" (see salt). For sal ammoniac "ammonium chloride" (early 14c.), see ammonia.
salami: "salted, flavored It. sausage," 1852, from It. salami, pl. of salame "spiced pork sausage," from V.L. *salamen, from *salare "to salt," from L. sal (gen. salis) "salt" (see salt).
sal volatile: 1654, from Mod.L., lit. "volatile salt" (see salt + volatile); ammonium carbonate, especially as used in reviving persons who have fainted.
sauce: 1350, from O.Fr. sauce, sausse, from noun use of L. salsa, fem. sing. or neut. pl. of salsus "salted," from pp. of Old L. sallere "to salt," from sal (gen. salis) "salt" (see salt). Meaning "something which adds piquancy to words or actions" is recorded from c.1500; sense of "impertinence" first recorded 1835 (see saucy, and cf. sass). Slang meaning "liquor" first attested 1940. Colloquial saucebox "one addicted to making saucy remarks" is from 1588.
halogen: 1842, from Swedish, coined by Swed. chemist Baron Jöns Jakob Berzelius (1779-1848) from Gk. hals (gen. halos) "salt" + -gen "to produce;" so called because a salt is formed in reactions involving these elements.
halite: "rock salt," 1868, coined as Mod.L. halites (Glocker, 1847), from Gk. hals (gen. halos) "salt" + chemical noun suffix -ite.
salad: 1390, from O.Fr. salade (14c.), from V.L. *salata, lit. "salted," short for herba salata "salted vegetables" (vegetables seasoned with brine, a popular Roman dish), from fem. pp. of *salare "to salt," from L. sal (gen. salis) "salt" (see salt). Du. salade, Ger. Salat, Swed. salat, Rus. salat are from Romanic languages. Salad days, "time of youthful inexperience" (on notion of "green") is first recorded 1606 in Shakespeare. Salad bar first attested 1976, Amer.Eng.
silt: c.1440, originally "sediment deposited by seawater," probably from M.L.G. or M.Du. silte, sulte "salt marsh, brine," related to O.E. sealt, O.H.G. sulza "saltwater," Ger. Sulze "brine" (see salt). The verb meaning "to become choked with silt" (of river channels, harbors, etc.) is attested from 1799.
pastrami: 1940, from Yiddish pastrame, from Rumanian pastrama, probably from Turk. pastrima, variant of basdirma "dried meat," from root *bas- "to press." The other possible origin of the Rumanian word is Mod.Gk. pastono "I salt," from classical Gk. pastos "sprinkled with salt, salted." Spelling in Eng. with -mi probably from influence of salami.
alum: early 14c., "whitish mineral salt used as an astringent, dye, etc.," from O.Fr. alum, from L. alumen "alum," lit. "bitter salt," cognate with Gk. aludoimos "bitter" and Eng. ale.
Dead Sea: mid-13c., from dead + sea; its water is 26 percent salt (as opposed to 3 or 4 percent in most oceans) and supports practically no life. In the Bible it was the "Salt Sea" (Heb. yam hammelah), also "Sea of the Plain" and "East Sea." In Arabic it is al-bahr al-mayyit "Dead Sea." The ancient Greeks knew it as he Thalassa asphaltites "the Asphaltite Sea." Latin Mare Mortum, Gk. he nekra thalassa (both "The Dead Sea") referred to the sea at the northern boundaries of Europe, the Arctic Ocean.
Malaga: 1608, white wine exported from the Sp. port of Malaga, founded by the Phoenicians and probably from Phoen. malha "salt."
mitochondria: 1901, from Ger., coined 1898 by microbiologist Carl Benda (1857-1933), from Gk. mitos "thread" (see mitre) + khondrion "little granule," dim. of khondros "granule, lump of salt."
acetate: 1827, "salt formed by combining acetic acid with a base," from L. acetum "vinegar" (see acetic) + chemical suffix -ate. As a type of synthetic material, it is attested from 1920, short for acetate silk, etc.
marshmallow: O.E. mersc-mealwe "kind of mallow plant (Althea officinalis) which grows near salt marshes." The confection was originally (1884) made from paste from the roots of this plant. The Gk. word for the plant, althaea, is from althein "to heal."
desalination: 1958, from de- + salination (see salt). As a verb, desalt is recorded from 1909.
salmagundi: 1674, from Fr. salmigondis, originally "seasoned salt meats" (cf. Fr. salmis "salted meats"), from M.Fr. salmigondin, coined by Rabelais, of uncertain origin, but probably related to salomene "hodgepodge of meats or fish cooked in wine," (early 14c.), from O.Fr. salemine.
salsify: biennial plant, 1675, from Fr. salsifis, earlier sercifi, sassify (16c.), probably from It. erba salsifica, from O.It. salsifica, of uncertain origin, perhaps from L. sal "salt" + fricare "to rub."
sausage: c.1450, sawsyge, from O.N.Fr. saussiche (fr. saucisse), from V.L. *salsica "sausage," from salsicus "seasoned with salt," from L. salsus "salted" (see sauce).
grain: c.1200, from O.Fr. grein, from L. granum "seed" (see corn). As collective sing. meaning "seed of wheat and allied grasses used as food," it is attested from early 14c. Extended in M.E. to other objects (e.g. salt, sand). Used of wood (1560s), from the arrangement of fibers, which resemble seeds. Hence, against the grain (1650), a metaphor from carpentry: cutting across the fibers of the wood is more difficult than cutting along them.
unsalted: c.1440, from un- (1) "not" + pp. of salt (v.). Cf. N.Fris. unsalted, Swed. osaltad, Dan. usaltet.
gluten: 1639, "any sticky substance," from L. gluten (gen. glutinis) "glue." Used 16c.-19c. for the part of animal tissue now called fibrin; used since 1803 of the nitrogenous part of the flour of wheat or other grain; hence glutamic acid (1871), a common amino acid, and its salt, glutamate (1876). Glutinous "of the nature of glue" is c.1400 (implied in glutinosity), from L. glutinosus, from gluten.
lick (n.): "an act of licking," 1603, from lick (v.). Meaning "small portion" is 1814, originally Scottish; hence U.S. colloquial sense. Sense of "place where an animal goes to lick salt" is from 1747. Lickety-split is 1859 in Amer.Eng. (earlier lickety-cut, lickety-click, and simply licketie, 1817) from dial. meaning of lick "very fast sprint in a race" (1809). The jazz music sense of "short figure or solo" is from 1920s.
crab: O.E. crabba, from a general Gmc. root (cf. Low Ger. krabben "to scratch, claw"). The constellation name is attested in Eng. from c.1000; the Crab Nebula (1868), however, is in Taurus, and is so called for its shape. Crab "fruit of the wild apple tree" (early 15c.) may be from unrelated Scandinavian scrab, of obscure origin. The combination of "bad-tempered, combative" and "sour" in the two words naturally yielded a meaning of "complain irritably," which is pre-1400. Crabgrass is c.1600, originally a marine grass of salt marshes; modern meaning is from 1743.
fond: mid-14c., originally "foolish, silly," from past tense of fonnen "to fool, be foolish," perhaps from M.E. fonne "fool," of uncertain origin, or related to fun. Meaning evolved by 1590 via "foolishly tender" to "having strong affections for." Another sense of fonne was "to lose savor," which may be the original meaning of the word (e.g. Wyclif: "Gif þe salt be fonnyd it is not worþi," 1380). Related: Fonder; fondest; fondness.
basalt: c.1600, from L.L. basaltes, misspelling of L. basanites "very hard stone," from Gk. basanites "a species of slate used to test gold," from basanos "touchstone." Not connected with salt. Said by Pliny ["Historia," 36.58] to be an African word, perhaps Egyptian bauhan "slate." Any hard, very dark rock would do as a touchstone; the assayer compared the streak left by the alleged gold with that of real gold or baser metals. Hence Gk. basanizein "to be put to the test, examined closely, cross-examined, to be put to torture."
sauerkraut: 1617, from Ger. Sauerkraut, lit. "sour cabbage," from sauer "sour" + Kraut "vegetable, cabbage," from O.H.G. krut, from P.Gmc. *kruthan.
"They pickle it [cabbage] up in all high Germany, with salt and barberies, and so keepe it all the yeere, being commonly the first dish you have served in at table, which they call their sawerkrant." [James Hart, "Klinike, or the diet of the diseased," 1633]
In U.S. slang, fig. use for "a German" dates from 1858 (cf. kraut). "The effort to substitute liberty-cabbage for sauerkraut, made by professional patriots in 1918, was a complete failure." [Mencken]
halcyon (adj.): 1545, in halcyon dayes (L. alcyonei dies, Gk. alkyonides hemerai), 14 days of calm weather at the winter solstice, when a mythical bird (identified with the kingfisher) was said to breed in a nest floating on calm seas. From halcyon (n.), 1390, from L. halcyon, from Gk. halkyon, variant (perhaps a misspelling) of alkyon "kingfisher," from hals "sea, salt" + kyon "conceiving," prp. of kyein "to conceive," lit. "to swell," from PIE base *keue- "to swell." Identified in mythology with Halcyone, daughter of Aeolus, who when widowed threw herself into the sea and became a kingfisher.
ammonia: 1799, coined 1782 by Swedish chemist Torbern Bergman (1735–1784) for gas obtained from sal ammoniac, salt deposits containing ammonium chloride found near temple of Jupiter Ammon (from Egyptian God Amun) in Libya, from Gk. ammoniakon "belonging to Ammon." The shrine was already ancient in Augustus' day, and the salts were prepared "from the sands where the camels waited while their masters prayed for good omens" [Shipley]. There also was a gum form of sal ammoniac, from a wild plant that grew near the shrine, and across North Africa and Asia. A less likely theory traces the name to Gk. Armeniakon "Armenian," since the substance also was found in Armenia. Also known as Spirit of Hartshorn and Volatile or Animal Alkali.
corn (1): "grain," O.E. corn, from P.Gmc. *kurnam "small seed," from PIE base *ger- "wear away" (O.Slav. zruno "grain," Skt. jr- "to wear down," L. granum). The sense of the O.E. word was "grain with the seed still in" rather than a particular plant. Locally understood to denote the leading crop of a district. Restricted to corn on the cob in America (originally Indian corn, but the adjective was dropped), usually wheat in England, oats in Scotland and Ireland, while korn means "rye" in parts of Germany. Introduced to China by 1550, it thrived where rice did not grow well and was a significant factor in the 18th century population boom there. Cornflakes first recorded 1907. Corned beef so called for the "corns" or grains of salt with which it is preserved.
fashion (n.): c.1300, "shape, manner, mode," from O.Fr. façon, from L. factionem (nom. factio) "group of people acting together," lit. "a making or doing," from facere "to make" (see factitious). Sense of "prevailing custom" is from late 15c.; that of "style of attire" is from 1520s. The verb is first recorded early 15c. Related: Fashioned; fashioning.
"To call a fashion wearable is the kiss of death. No new fashion worth its salt is wearable." [Eugenia Sheppard, "New York Herald Tribune," Jan. 13, 1960]
Fashion plate (1851) originally was "full-page picture in a popular magazine showing the prevailing or latest style of dress," in ref. to the "plate" from which it was printed. Transf. sense of "well-dressed person" had emerged by 1920s.
sea: O.E. sæ "sheet of water, sea, lake," from P.Gmc. *saiwaz (cf. O.S. seo, O.Fris. se, M.Du. see), of unknown origin, outside connections "wholly doubtful" (Buck). Gmc. languages also use the general IE word (represented by Eng. mere), but have no firm distinction between "sea" and "lake," either by size or by salt vs. fresh. This may reflect the Baltic geography where the languages are thought to have originated. The two words are used more or less interchangeably, and exist in opposite senses (e.g. Goth. saiws "lake," marei "sea;" but Du. zee "sea," meer "lake"). Cf. also O.N. sær "sea," but Dan. sø, usually "lake" but "sea" in phrases. Ger. See is "sea" (fem.) or "lake" (masc.). Meaning "dark area of the moon's surface" is attested from 1667 (see mare (2)). Phrase sea change "transformation" is attested from 1610, first in Shakespeare ("The Tempest," I.ii). Sea legs is from 1712; sea serpent attested from 1646; sea level first recorded 1806. At sea in the fig. sense of "perplexed" is attested from 1768, from lit. sense of "out of sight of land."
taste (v.): late 13c., "to touch, to handle," from O.Fr. taster "to taste" (13c.), earlier "to feel, touch" (12c.), from V.L. *tastare, apparently an alteration of taxtare, a frequentative form of L. taxare "evaluate, handle" (see tax). Meaning "to take a little food or drink" is from c.1300; that of "to perceive by sense of taste" is recorded from mid-14c. Of substances, "to have a certain taste or flavor," it is attested from 1550s (replaced native smack (n.1) in this sense). For another PIE root in this sense, see gusto.
"The Hindus recognized six principal varieties of taste with sixty-three possible mixtures ... the Greeks eight .... These included the four that are now regarded as fundamental, namely 'sweet,' 'bitter,' 'acid,' 'salt.' ... The others were 'pungent' (Gk. drimys, Skt. katuka-), 'astringent' (Gk. stryphnos, Skt. kasaya-), and, for the Greeks, 'rough, harsh' (austeros), 'oily, greasy' (liparos), with the occasional addition of 'winy' (oinodes)." [Buck]
rock (n.): "stone," O.E. rocc (in stanrocc "stone rock or obelisk"), also from O.N.Fr. roque, from M.L. rocca (767), from V.L. *rocca, of uncertain origin, sometimes said to be from Celtic (cf. Bret. roch). Seems to have been used in M.E. principally for rock formations as opposed to individual stones. Meaning "precious stone, especially a diamond," is 1908, U.S. slang. Fig. use for "sure foundation" (especially with ref. to Christ) is from 1526. Meaning "crystalized cocaine" is attested from 1973, in West Coast U.S. slang. Rocks "ice cubes" is from 1946; slang meaning "testicles" is first recorded in phrase get (one's) rocks off "achieve intense satisfaction." On the rocks "ruined" is from 1889. Rock-bottom "lowest possible" is from 1856. Rock-salt is from 1707. Between a rock and a hard place first attested 1921, originally in Arizona. Rock-ribbed is from 1776, originally of land; fig. sense of "resolute" first recorded 1887.