The word "salary" comes from...

[her209]

...the days of the Roman Empire when the soldiers were paid with salt.

 

[FoBoT]

no matter how much salt i get, i use it all up too fast

 

[paulney]

I thought it comes from the word 'salad'. Or 'celery'.
Like from the days of the old when people didn't have currency, and used good exchange. Salad, naturally, being the most ubitiquous commodity.

One bj for one salad. Or smth along these lines.

 

[cw42]

Originally posted by: her209
...the days of the Roman Empire when the soldiers were paid with salt.

learn something new everyday!

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: her209
...the days of the Roman Empire when the soldiers were paid with salt.

So you used salt to buy things?



What if the demand for salt suddenly plummeted? lol

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: her209
...the days of the Roman Empire when the soldiers were paid with salt.

So you used salt to buy things?



What if the demand for salt suddenly plummeted? lol

It seems no less arbitrary than the gold or silver standard that was used in the west for hundreds of years. What if the demand for these metals suddenly plummetted?

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Jzero

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: her209
...the days of the Roman Empire when the soldiers were paid with salt.

So you used salt to buy things?



What if the demand for salt suddenly plummeted? lol

It seems no less arbitrary than the gold or silver standard that was used in the west for hundreds of years. What if the demand for these metals suddenly plummetted?

Yeah, I guess I kinda realized that after I posted..

Perhaps I shouldn't have said demand plummeted, but supply exploded...

 

[loup garou]

Somebody's been watching/reading Alton Brown.

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: Jzero

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: her209
...the days of the Roman Empire when the soldiers were paid with salt.

So you used salt to buy things?



What if the demand for salt suddenly plummeted? lol

It seems no less arbitrary than the gold or silver standard that was used in the west for hundreds of years. What if the demand for these metals suddenly plummetted?

Yeah, I guess I kinda realized that after I posted..

Perhaps I shouldn't have said demand plummeted, but supply exploded...

Then all those soldiers would be very wealthy
Either way...it's still a financial system based on a supposedly limited natural resource, and supply or demand for that resource could swing drastically at any given time and totally bodge the entire economic system.

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: werk
Somebody's been watching/reading Alton Brown.

History Channel

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: werk
Somebody's been watching/reading Alton Brown.

History Channel

damn...i was just reading his book and he mentioned that factoid

 

[Bulk Beef]

"worth his salt"

 

[Paul Ma]

Comes from sal. The Romans really meant business when they salted the earth after defeating the Carthage cause it was really expensive.

 

[nageov3t]

it's like I'm back in high school Latin class all over again