salary (English)
Where does "salary" come from?
The word salary traces its roots back to the Latin word sal, meaning salt. It evolved into the Latin salārium, a term believed to refer to money provided to Roman soldiers for the purchase of salt. Passing through Old French and Anglo-Norman, the term settled into English as a way to describe fixed, ongoing compensation for one's labor.
Full etymology tree
- salary (English), 'To pay on the basis of a period of a week or longer, especially to convert from another form of compensation.'
- inherited salarie (Middle English)
- borrowed salaire (Old French), 'salary (fixed amount of money paid to a worker per month, per year, etc.)'
- inherited salārium (Latin), 'a salary, stipend, allowance, pension'
- derived salārius (Latin), 'Of or pertaining to salt.'
- derived sal (Latin), 'salt'
- inherited *sāls (Proto-Italic), 'salt'
- inherited *séh₂ls (Proto-Indo-European), 'salt'
- inherited *sāls (Proto-Italic), 'salt'
- derived -ārius (Latin), 'Used to form adjectives from nouns or numerals.'
- derived sal (Latin), 'salt'
- derived salārius (Latin), 'Of or pertaining to salt.'
- inherited salārium (Latin), 'a salary, stipend, allowance, pension'
- borrowed salaire (Old French), 'salary (fixed amount of money paid to a worker per month, per year, etc.)'
- inherited salarie (Middle English)
Direct ancestors
Updated June 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris