haking up the Salt Myth: The History of Salt
[1] The development of human civilization is
intricately linked to the pursuit of salt: wild
animals wore paths to salt licks, men followed
these animals and built settlements near the
[5] salt deposits. These settlements became
cities and nations. The human obsession with
salt has spanned thousands of years of human
history, across many different contexts and
continents. Nearly every society in existence
[10] has some level of salt use not only in their
cuisine, but also in their medicine, their
politics, their economies, and even their
religious practices.
As civilization and agriculture spread, salt
[15] became one of the first international
commodities of trade, its production was one
of the first industries, and a number of the
greatest public works were motivated by the
need to obtain salt. Salt trade routes
[20] traversed the globe, between Africa, Asia, the
Middle East, and Europe. Salt was often used
as money, and was desperately coveted,
hoarded, searched for, traded for, and even
fought over.
[25] Salt has even made its way into our language
as a metaphor for value: hardworking people
are known to be “worth their salt”, and the
most worthy amongst us are known as “the
salt of the earth”. The root word “sal-” is of
[30] Latin origin and refers to salt. Words that have
been historically based on humanity’s high
value for salt include “salubrious”, which
means “health-giving”, and “salary”, which is
derived from the Latin salarium, the money
[35] allotted to Roman soldiers for purchases of
salt.
“Salus” is the Roman goddess of health and
prosperity. Even the word “salad” originated
from the Italian salata, as the Romans often
[40] ate dishes of assorted raw vegetables with a
brined dressing, hence the name which is
short for herba salata or “salted vegetables”.
Nearly four pages of the Oxford English
Dictionary are taken up by references to salt,
[45] more than any other food. (12) Clearly, the high
value placed on salt in many cultures around
the world has greatly contributed to the
developmental course of human history.
by Chris Kresser, 2012
Fonte: Disponível em: https://chriskresser.com/shaking-up-the-salt-myth-history-of-salt. Acesso em: 15 set. 2014. (adaptado)
As metáforas “worth their salt” (ℓ.27) e “the salt of the earth” (ℓ.28-29) são usadas para se referir, respectivamente, a
