Etymograph

English

salient

Salient comes from Latin saliēns ‘springing, leaping’, from saliō ‘leap’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sel- ‘jump, spring’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sel-1‘jump, spring’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sl̥-yé-tor1uncertain
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἅλλομαι1hállomai‘to leap, jump’uncertain
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsaliō2‘leap’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsaliēns3‘springing, leaping’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsalientem3accusative form of saliēns
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1650salient3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin salio, which cites LIV
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin saliens
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English salient
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […]: “frogs and salient animals”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sel-Wiktionary, Latin salio, which cites LIV‘jump, spring’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sl̥-yé-torWiktionary, Latin salio, which cites LIVuncertain
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἅλλομαιWiktionary, Latin salio, which cites LIVhállomai‘to leap, jump’uncertain
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsaliōWiktionary, Latin saliens‘leap’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsaliēnsWiktionary, English salient‘springing, leaping’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsalientemWiktionary, English salientaccusative form of saliēns
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1650salientWiktionary, English salient. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […]: “frogs and salient animals”

The story

The heraldic sense “leaping” and the sense “projecting outward” are borrowed from Latin salientem, the accusative form of saliēns (‘springing, leaping’) (whence -ent), present participle of saliō (“leap, spring”, verb). The senses “prominent” and “pertinent” are relatively recent, and derive from the phrase salient point, which is a calque of the Latin punctum saliēns, a translation of Aristotle's term for the embryonal heart visible in (opened) eggs, which he thought seemed to move already.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *sel- ‘jump, spring’

sale, insult, exile, savage, silva, salon, salvage, sill, sylvan, salle, somersault, selva, slink, seel, selly, 17 more

through Latin saliō ‘leap’

result, salt, sauce, salad, salmon, sally, resilience, resilient, resiliency, salacious, exultant, 27 more

Today it means

adj Worthy of note; pertinent or relevant.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “salient”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin salio, Latin saliens. 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 *sel- / salient

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