Etymograph

English

salame

Salame comes from Italian salame ‘salami’, from sale ‘salt’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sḗh₂l.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sḗh₂l‘salt’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sāls‘salt’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsālas salem‘salt’
  4. Italianc. 1300–presentsale‘salt’
  5. Italian, derivedc. 1300–presentsalame‘salami’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1870same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sḗh₂l‘salt’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sāls‘salt’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsālas salem‘salt’
  4. Italianc. 1300–presentsale‘salt’
  5. Italian, derivedc. 1300–presentsalame‘salami’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1870same form

Earliest quotation: 1870, Edward Lear, Journal of a Landscape Painter in Corsica: “Travellers, they say, come very unexpectedly, and for long…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *sḗh₂l ‘salt’

salt, salsa, saucer, halogen, 31 more

through Latin sāl ‘salt’

sauce, salary, sausage, cellar, salad, saline, sal, salina, 13 more

Today it means

noun —

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *sḗh₂l / salame