salt

Forms

salt m (plural salts)^[1] The DCVB records /saɫ/ and /saɫt/: the final /t/ is silent in Central and North-Western Catalan and pronounced in Balearic and Valencian.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Catalan salt, which is inherited from Latin saltus (“a leap, a jump”).^[3][2][4][1] The Latin noun is derived from saliō (“to jump”).^[5][4][6] The verb saltar continues the Latin frequentative saltō.^[3]

The same Latin word is French saut, Occitan saut, Italian salto, Spanish salto, Portuguese salto and Romanian salt.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Jaume I's Llibre dels fets uses donaren-los salt “they fell upon them” for an attack.^[8][2] Llull speaks of the man who steps back and runs up so as to make major salt, a longer jump.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Coromines calls salt as old and basic as saltar.^[3] The phrase donar salt “to attack” is frequent in Desclot, and pendre salt “to be attacked” in Cerverí; in Roig's Spill the word is used of mating.^[3][10] Canals uses it for a sudden rise of fortune, and the Sant Grasal for a sudden change of the wind.^[10]

Salt d'aigua “waterfall” is used nearly everywhere and names many places, such as the Salt de Gualba and the Salt de Sallent.^[3] Labèrnia lists the jump, a precipice, a place to jump from, and the passage from one thing to another without the steps between.^[11] The DIEC2 adds the athletic events, as salt de llargada and salt de perxa.^[12] Bruguera dates saltiró to 1803 and saltironar to 1915.^[5]

Timeline

• 1244–1274 – donar salt “to attack” in the Llibre dels fets.^[8][2]
• 1271 – Llull uses salt for a jump in the Llibre de contemplació.^[9]
• 1275–1299 – salt in the Vides de sants rosselloneses.^[8]
• 1283 – Desclot uses donar salt.^[3][10]
• 1460 – Roig writes ans de tres salts in the Spill.^[3]
• 1839 – Labèrnia lists “precipice” among the senses.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A jump, leap: a movement by which one stays in the air for a moment: Va pujar l'escala d'un salt.^[12][4]
2. (athletics) A jumping event: salt d'alçada, salt de perxa.^[12]
3. A sudden passage from one thing or state to another; an omission in reading or copying.^[12]
4. salt d'aigua: a waterfall.^[2][1]
5. (dated) An attack, an assault.^[2][9]

Word family

• saltiró
• saltironar
• saltironant
• saltironejar

Related words

• saltar
• assalt
• Latin saltus
• Spanish salto

Usage notes

Medieval texts also have salt “pasture, land for grazing or tilling”, as in Roig's Spill and in a survey of Sardinia; this is the other Latin ⟨saltus⟩, “wooded pasture”, which gave Spanish soto.^[10][13][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. salt
3. ^ a b c d e f g Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 7, 625
4. ^ a b c Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. salt
5. ^ a b Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 822
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. saltus
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7554
8. ^ a b c Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. salt
9. ^ a b c Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. salt
10. ^ a b c d Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. salt
11. ^ a b Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. salt
12. ^ a b c d Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. salt
13. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7553
14. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 321