E 0754          SALARY

The word " salary " is, via French, of Latin origin .

H 0853         ה ל ס

Concept of root : retribution

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ה ל ס

salà

to retribute

Related English words

salary, from Latin

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

     ה ל ס

salà

to retribute

s . l .

Latin

salarium

salarium

retribution

s . l . (r)

English

salary

salary

s . l . r

 

 

Hebrew *SALÀ --- *SALA-RIUM Latin

 

 

Another urban legend tough as an urban comboy : in the old times Roman soldiers did not receive money, but salt as their salary. Thus the word "salarium" was born. "Salarius" was the sisterword that in fact meant the "salt-output" from salt-mines or -basins. Perhaps it has occurred a few times that a general gave his men a quantity of salt, but just imagine anything like that being a rule of conduct. Quite unacceptable to the poor soldiers that should carry along a weight of salt, try to avoid that the salt would get wet during campaigns and battles and then try to sell it somewhere to somebody. They would never fight for such conditions of retribution.

 

Somebody else tried to save the ship of the legend by saying that the " salary " earned its name because it represented the " money given to soldiers to buy salt ". Happy be the believer !

 

Luckily the similarity with Hebrew shows that also in Latin the root "S L" may have been at the basis of "salarium". And not the "S L" of "sal = salt ". The root we refer to is found as well in the verb "solvere = to pay".

 

The concept of "retribution" may well be related to the perhaps principal meaning of the Hebrew root of this entry : "to weigh, evaluate".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic . With the same meanings of "to weigh, evaluate, recompense" there is also the older version with an Aleph, that probably was used in Proto-Semitic. : "*ס ל א , S L Aleph" . There is a sister word "sala'à" with the same message in Arabic. A similar root "*ס ל ה , S L H (accentuated vowel)" with different messages like "to push off", exists, with sister words in Aramaic and Arabic, but it may be unrelated.

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 28/11/2012 at 9.43.32