Notes on Salt

I'm currently reading Salt: A World History, by Mark Kurlansky, not due to any particular interest in salt but more because I enjoyed another book by Kurlansky. But, salt has played a critical role in world history and was especially important in Ancient Rome. Here are a few interesting nuggets from the book...

• Soldiers were often paid in salt (there is some disagreement on this; some historians say they were paid in order to buy their salt) and it is from this we get a number of words and expressions that survive today. First and foremost, "salary" comes from the linking of labor with the ability to possess or purchase salt. This also ties into the common saying that someone is "worth his salt." Finally, the French word "solde" (which also derives from salt) means pay and was the base of the word soldier.
• Romans salted their vegetables before eating, hence the word "salad," which simply means "salted."
• Salsamenta referred to salted products. The most common products centered around fish, both dried fish and fish sauces made from the discarded components of the fish drying process. Of most relevance to us, it's easy to see the origins of the word salsa, or sauce.

Also worth noting - in class last week, Alessio asked how long it would have taken someone to walk from Greece to China. Kurlansky writes briefly about Marco Polo's journey from Italy to China. According to Polo, the journey from Venice to "Xanadu" took four years. It's important to emphasize, though, that their trip was not a forced march, but rather one of frequent and extensive stops. In other words, they could have made it to China at a much faster pace. It looks like Venice to Beijing is roughly 5,000 miles as the crow flies, so you have to assume that on foot it would span at least 6,000 miles.

Finally, while I'm on the subject - I've always heard that Polo introduced pasta to Italy. Kurlansky finds this claim suspect. More likely, he writes, pasta entered Italy via Sicily, first brought to the island in the 9th century by Muslim conquerors.