Etymograph

English

salame

Salame comes from Italian salame ‘salami’, from sale ‘salt’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sḗh₂l.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sḗh₂l1‘salt’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sāls1‘salt’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsāl2as salem‘salt’
  4. Italianc. 1300–presentsale3‘salt’
  5. Italianc. 1300–presentsalame4‘salami’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1870salame4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin sal
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Italian sale
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Italian salame
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English salame
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1870, Edward Lear, Journal of a Landscape Painter in Corsica: “Travellers, they say, come very unexpectedly, and for long…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sḗh₂lWiktionary, Latin sal‘salt’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sālsWiktionary, Latin sal‘salt’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsālWiktionary, Italian saleas salem‘salt’
  4. Italianc. 1300–presentsaleWiktionary, Italian salame‘salt’
  5. Italianc. 1300–presentsalameWiktionary, English salame‘salami’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1870salameWiktionary, English salame. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1870, Edward Lear, Journal of a Landscape Painter in Corsica: “Travellers, they say, come very unexpectedly, and for long…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *sḗh₂l ‘salt’

salt, salsa, saucer, halogen, 30 more

through Latin sāl ‘salt’

sauce, salary, sausage, cellar, salad, saline, sal, salina, 13 more

Today it means

noun —

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “salame”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin sal, Italian sale, Italian salame. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *sḗh₂l / salame

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