salin

Forms

salin (feminine saline, masculine plural salins, feminine plural salines)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French sel + -in, the base being taken in its Latin form, sal.^[2][3][4] The Grand Robert takes the base to be Old French sal, an old form of the same word.^[5] The Petit Robert instead gives the adjective as Latin salīnus, a form that Littré only supposes from salīnae (“saltworks”) and salīnum (“salt-cellar”).^[6][7] The FEW files the word under that last Latin form.^[8]

The noun “salt marsh” grew from the adjective, according to the TLFi and Rey,^[2][9] while the Petit Robert derives it from the Latin word for a salt-cellar.^[6] For Rey, the noun meaning a salt tub has a separate source in that Latin word: it is found in Old Occitan for a salt granary in the 13th century and in Middle French from 1454, and in 1680 it named a tub used by women selling salt.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found before 1590 in Ambroise Paré, for what has the nature of salt, said of a salty humour.^[2][9][7] Bloch and Wartburg date it to about 1450,^[3] and Anglo-Norman had salin “salted” in the early 15th century.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The sense “containing salt” follows in Olivier de Serres (1600) and in Furetière (1690).^[2][4][5] In chemistry it came to qualify a body with the composition of a salt.^[4][6]

The noun first named a duty on salt (1660) and took several technical senses, such as the fixed alkali used to melt sand in glassworks (1765).^[9][2] The sense “salt marsh”, marais salant, is recorded by the Académie in 1835;^[2][6] Rey dates its common use to 1870.^[9] Larousse also gives the product of burning seaweed.^[11] The adjective gave salinité (1867), the salt content of natural waters.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1450 – Bloch and Wartburg's first date for the word.^[3]
• before 1590 – Paré uses it for what is proper to salt.^[2][7]
• 1600 – Olivier de Serres uses it for what contains salt.^[4][5]
• 1660 – The noun names a duty on salt.^[9]
• 1690 – Furetière records the sense “containing salt”.^[2]
• 1765 – The Encyclopédie uses the noun for an alkali used in glassmaking.^[2][9]
• 1835 – The Académie records the noun “salt marsh”.^[2][6]
• 1867 – The derivative salinité appears.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Containing salt or formed of salt; saline: saline crusts, salty sea air, a saline lake.^[6][2][12]
2. (chemistry) Relating to a salt: solution saline.^[6][12][4]

Noun

1. (technical) A salt marsh for evaporating sea water, a marais salant.^{[6][11][12][1]}
2. The product of burning seaweed.^[11]

Word family

• salinité

Related words

• sel
• saline
• salant
• salière
• Latin sāl

Usage notes

Littré records a cour de salin, a court set up at La Rochelle about 1635 to judge disputes over the possession of saltworks.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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
3. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 91b
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
12. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)