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Etymology and origin of the French word salade

salade1 salad

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1414 Laurent de Premierfait, translation of the Decameron
Borrowed from
Italian salata
Ultimate origin
Latin sāl

Pronunciation

Forms

salade f (plural salades)[1] 16th-century texts also spell it sallade.[2]

Etymology

The word for the salad is borrowed from Italian salata, a northern Italian form (also salada) of insalata, literally a salted dish, the past participle of salare (“to salt”) or insalare.[3][4][5][6] The verb is from Late Latin salō (“to salt”), from sāl (“salt”), the source of sel.[3][4] The GLLF names Piedmontese as the immediate source.[7]

The Grand Robert and Petit Robert instead derive it from Occitan (Provençal) salada (“salted dish”), recorded in 1333 according to Rey, who notes that Spanish ensalada, Catalan ansalada and Occitan ensalada were borrowed from the Italian.[8][9][4] Littré explained it from saler with the Spanish-type ending ⟨-ade⟩.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi's first record is from 1414, in Laurent de Premierfait's translation of the Decameron, for a dish of seasoned pot herbs.[3] Bloch and Wartburg and the GLLF date the word to about 1350.[5][7]

Semantic evolution

The dish of raw leaves dressed with oil, vinegar and salt was the first sense.[4] By metonymy the word named the plant eaten that way (Rabelais, 1536), as in salade de chanoine for lamb's lettuce (1591).[4][7] Since a salad is a mixture, it was extended to cold dishes of various ingredients (Nicot, 1606): salade de fruits (1690), salade russe (1877).[3][4][7]

The idea of a muddled mixture gave figurative uses: a confused brawl (1830), a jumble of things (1836 in the TLFi), and in argot an answer or message (Vidocq, 1836).[3][4] At the end of the 19th century des salades came to mean lies or tall stories (Bruant, 1901), the source of raconter des salades and vendre sa salade.[3][4][1] Panier à salade “salad shaker” became slang for a police van.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1350 – Bloch and Wartburg's date for the word.[5][8]
  • 1414 – Laurent de Premierfait uses it for a dish of seasoned herbs.[3][4]
  • 1536 – Rabelais uses it for the salad plant.[4][7]
  • 1606 – Nicot records a cold dish of mixed ingredients.[3]
  • 1690 – Salade de fruits is recorded.[4]
  • 1830 – Used for a confused brawl.[3][4]
  • 1836 – Vidocq records it for an answer or message in argot.[3][4]
  • 1877 – Salade russe is recorded.[4][7]
  • 1901 – Bruant uses salades for lies.[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A salad, a dish of raw leaves seasoned with oil, vinegar and salt: une salade de mâche.[9][10]
  2. A salad plant, especially lettuce and its relatives: planter des salades.[9][4]
  3. A cold dish of mixed ingredients: salade de fruits, salade russe, salade niçoise.[9][4][1]
  4. (familiar) A confused mixture, a muddle.[3][7]
  5. (familiar, usually plural) Lies, nonsense: raconter des salades.[1][4]

Word family

  • saladier
  • salade composée
  • salade de fruits
  • panier à salade

salade2 sallet

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1417 Accounts of King René
Borrowed from
Italian celata
Ultimate origin
Italian celata
Etymology tree of salade2
inherited borrowed derived
Italian celata
French salade

Pronunciation

Forms

salade f (plural salades)[1]

Etymology

The word for the helmet is borrowed from Italian celata, reshaped after the word for the salad.[3][5][9][11] The TLFi, Wartburg and the Robert take the Italian word as a derivative of cielo (“sky, vault”), from caelum (“sky”), because of the helmet's deep domed shape; the Sienese form cielata (1460) supports this.[3][5][8] Medieval Latin cellata appears in a Savoy document of 1417 about helmets brought from Milan.[3][5] Bloch and Wartburg think the change of ⟨cel-⟩ to ⟨sal-⟩ may have come about as the word passed through Franco-Provençal or Provençal.[5]

Meyer-Lübke derived the Italian word instead from cēlō (“to hide”), and Littré from caelō (“to engrave”).[12][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1417, in the accounts of King René, for a kind of helmet.[3]

Semantic evolution

The word named a deep, rounded helmet with a short visor and a neck guard, worn in the 15th and 16th centuries.[3][9] By metonymy Monluc used it in 1557 for a soldier wearing such a helmet.[3] Today it is a term of history and arms.[3][9]

Timeline

  • 1417 – First recorded for a helmet.[3]
  • 1419 – Bloch and Wartburg's date for the word.[5][8]
  • 1557 – Monluc uses it for a soldier wearing the helmet.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (history) A sallet, a deep rounded helmet with a short visor, worn by horsemen in the 15th and 16th centuries.[9][3]

Usage notes

Salade de Gascogne was a 17th-century name for the hemp used to make ropes, and salade de Gascon for a hanged man's rope.[4][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 82b
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  8. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 35b
  12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Salade.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/salade. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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