sealt

Forms

sealt n (nominative plural sealt) (strong a-stem)^[1]

• Anglian and Northumbrian salt, without the breaking of West Saxon.^[2]
• Northumbrian salt in the Lindisfarne gloss.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *salt, from Proto-Germanic *saltą (“salt”).^[1][2] The noun is found across Germanic: Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌻𐍄 (salt), Old Norse salt, Old Saxon salt and Old High German salz, and the reconstructed Old Frisian *salt.^[4][5] The adjective goes back to *saltaz (“salty”), beside saltr and salt;^[4][6] Orel takes it as derived from the noun.^[4][6]

Outside Germanic the word belongs with Latin sāl, Ancient Greek ἅλς (háls), Proto-Slavic *solь and Old Irish salann, all from the Indo-European word for salt, Proto-Indo-European *seh₂l-.^[1][4][7] The Germanic forms have a ⟨t⟩ that these lack;^[4][6] Orel compares Lithuanian saldùs (“sweet”), and Köbler starts from an extended root *sald-.^[4][6] Wiktionary reports Kroonen's view that the noun was first a collective made to the verb *saltaną (“to salt”), whose Old English form is sealtan.^[1]

Proto-Germanic /a/ was fronted to /æ/ and then broken to ⟨ea⟩ before /lt/ in West Saxon, so *saltą became *sælt and then sealt;^[2] Anglian kept “salt”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Both the noun and the adjective appear in the Hatton manuscript of the Pastoral Care, written between 890 and 897.^[8][9] In the text Christ's saying Habbað ge sealt on ieow “have salt in you” is explained as Ðurh ðæt sealt is getacnod ða word wisdomes “by the salt the words of wisdom are signified”, and the verse preface says that Augustine brought the work ofer sealtne sæ “over the salt sea”.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

As a noun the word names salt as a substance, white salt and rock salt in the medical recipes, and salt as a sign of wisdom in the Gospel phrase eorþan sealt “salt of the earth”, which a homily explains of teachers who season the minds of believers with wisdom.^[10][11] Bald's Leechbook measures it by the handful.^[9] As an adjective it is said of what is salt by nature, above all the sea: sealt wæter “the sea”, sealte ȳða and sealte strēamas “the salt waves, streams” are poetic phrases, and Orosius calls a salt lake se sealta mere.^[10] It is also said of salted meat and food, set against fresh in a charter (sealt beside fersc).^[10] Field names in charters show sealt strǣt, sealtbrōc and sealtwelle.^[12]

The word lived on as Middle English salt, the noun and the adjective, now English salt.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 890×897 – sealt “salt” as a figure of wisdom, and ofer sealtne sæ “over the salt sea”, in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[8][9]
• s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – Asia surrounded mid sealtum wætre “with salt water” in the Old English Orosius.^[15][9]
• s. x med. – þreo sealtes “three [handfuls] of salt” in a recipe of Bald's Leechbook.^[16][9]
• s. x³/⁴ – Northumbrian salt in the Lindisfarne gloss.^[17][3]
• s. x² – sealtum dropum “with salt drops”, tears, in Judgement Day II.^[18][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. salt, as a substance and a seasoning; rock salt.^[10][6]
2. (figurative) salt as a figure of wisdom.^[11]
3. salt water.^[6]

Adjective

1. naturally salt, briny, of the sea and of tears.^[10][19]
2. salted, of meat and food.^[10][20]

Word family

• sealtan
• sealtnes
• sealtsēaþ
• sealthūs
• sealtere
• unsealt

Descendants

• Middle English salt (→ English salt; Scots sawt; Scots salt)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 184
3. ^ a b Cook, Albert S. (1894), A Glossary of the Old Northumbrian Gospels, Halle: Niemeyer
4. ^ a b c d e f Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 316
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sealt
7. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 286
8. ^ a b c Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
9. ^ a b c d e f g Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
10. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 851
11. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 700
12. ^ Middendorff, H. (1902), Altenglisches Flurnamenbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 115
13. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
14. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 249
16. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 412
17. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 291
18. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 223
19. ^ Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 300
20. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 172