Salary (SAL-uh-ree)
Category:
Business & Money
Origin
From Old French salarie, ultimately from Latin salarium, a payment or allowance associated with sal, meaning “salt.”
Language Root
Latin — salarium, related to sal (“salt”).
Original Meaning
Salarium referred to an allowance or payment. Its connection with sal, “salt,” is genuine, although the popular story that Roman soldiers were routinely paid their wages directly in salt is not supported by strong historical evidence.
Evolution Over Time
Salt was an extremely important commodity in the ancient world, essential for food preservation and daily life. Latin salarium became associated with payments or allowances, and the word eventually passed through French into English. By the early modern period, salary had developed its familiar meaning of regular compensation paid for employment.
Modern Usage
A fixed or regular amount of money paid to an employee for their work, commonly expressed as an annual amount and paid periodically.
Word Family
Salary, Salaried, Salarium, Sal
Related Concept
Employment, Wages, Money, Compensation, Labor, Salt, Ancient Rome, Income
Narrative
There is salt hiding inside your salary. The word ultimately traces to Latin sal, “salt,” through salarium. That connection has produced the famous claim that Roman soldiers were literally paid in salt—the supposed origin of “worth his salt.” The real history is less tidy: salarium was a form of allowance or payment, but evidence for Roman soldiers routinely receiving salt as their wages is lacking. What survives with certainty is the linguistic connection. A substance once valuable enough to preserve food and support entire economies left its mark on one of the most familiar words on a modern paycheck.