Salt was used as a form of payment. (Provided photo — Diane Chase)

My kids have talked a lot about pay, work and value. Though it would be nice to determine our worth, when we are working for someone else, there is sometimes a fine line between how we view ourselves and how our bosses value us. I quip that they are lucky to be paid a salary and not in pastries. One of my children then informed me that they had heard the word salary derived from the time when Roman soldiers were paid “salt money” for their work.

That statement sent me on a deep dive to discover the truth of a salty salary. The concept certainly makes sense. Humans and other animals require a small amount of sodium to live. Sodium helps the muscles contract and relax, maintain water/minerals balance and regulate nerve function. Salt licks were ways to attract game to hunters. Salt is also a natural preservative and highly valued in processing food without refrigeration. Soldiers needed to remain healthy, hunt for food and carry resources. Paying someone in salt seems reasonable.

The Oxford English Dictionary states that the word salary’s earliest recorded use was around 1150. Borrowed from the French word salarie, “salary” refers to strict compensation periodically paid for a regular service. Though trading goods has always been a popular way of compensating others, being paid strictly in salt would mean Roman soldiers would have had to barter for everything else.

In the 1777 book “Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights and Measures,” author J. Arbuthnot mentions that Roman Emperors implemented a salt tax and has a footnote that the word “Salarium” (a salary, stipend, or money allowance) is derived from “Sal,” the Latin word for salt. Arbuthnot doesn’t mention whether Romans paid their soldiers in salt.

It seems that translations of the Facciolati-Forcellini Italian Latin dictionary from around the same timeframe perpetuated the myth of soldiers receiving a salt payment. “Salarium Argentum,” or salt money, is thought to refer to the salt tax, not work compensation. Other dictionary writers took the monetary reference to mean payment for work. Now, the word “salary” is tied to the work of Roman soldiers.

It seems logical that soldiers would get a salt ration in addition to their regular pay. Salt was not easily accessible and a valuable commodity. Since there is no clear path to disprove the salt payment, let’s hope we don’t go back in time and make salt or trading other goods our only means of compensation. I’d like to stick to a monetary salary with a side of pastries, please.