Earn Your Salt

    I did a post in June last year about the PA Dutch words we mix in with our English speaking. But a lot of our English words either come from or are rooted in other languages.  Language changes constantly. Today's English does not look or sound anything like it did in the eleventh century. At various points in history, German, French, Latin, and Greek languages influenced the development of English to produce the Modern English we speak today. 

   Some of the words we think are English are actually Latin. Some examples are campus, extra, focus, habitat, labor, and major, to name a few. Some words that are rooted in Latin include maternal from maternus, mode from modus, number from numerus, tremble from tremere, and a host of others.

   Here is one I learned recently. The Latin word for salt is sal; the plural form is salium. In ancient times, salt was a valuable resource. With no refrigeration or freezers, salt was used to preserve meat, fish, and other foods. Salt was so valuable it could be used as cash to purchase things. Sometimes taxes were required to be paid in salt rather than money. From salium we get the English word salary. 

    That reminds me of what my mother used to tell me when I was being lazy. "You didn't earn your salt today." I thought she was saying I didn't work enough to earn the cheapest thing on the table, but it came from salt being the most valuable thing and meant I hadn't earned a salary.

   There are many other sayings rooted in history. For example: "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." If someone was given a horse, it was rude to look in the horse's mouth to examine the health of the animal. The saying means be grateful for a gift and don't find fault with it.

    "Burning the candle at both ends" implies working hard late at night. It comes from the days when candles were the primary source of light. 

     In 1947 when engineers working on an early computer found a moth causing an electrical fault that disrupted the hardware. One of the scientists popularized the term "computer bug" by taping the moth in the log book with a note, "First actual case of a bug being found."

    Language will continue to change. Some of the old sayings will continue to be passed on long after they have lost their meaning with the change of culture. In the meantime, earn your salt.