*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of salad

PIE word *sḗh₂l Etymology tree Italian salatader. Old French saladebor. Middle English salade English salad From Middle English salade, from Old French salade, borrowed from Northern Italian salada, salata (compare insal

1 source sectionExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗
noun

A food consisting principally of raw vegetables (especially greens, e.g. lettuce), other savoury ingredients (typically cooked), fruit, or confectionary; often involving two or more such ingredients mixed together, with larger items cut or torn into small pieces, and usually with a dressing or binding; usually served cold or at room temperature, as a dish or savoury sandwich filling. · One or more raw vegetables of the kind used in salads; typically greens (especially lettuce). · Any mixture of different things.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

PIE word *sḗh₂l Etymology tree Italian salatader. Old French saladebor. Middle English salade English salad From Middle English salade, from Old French salade, borrowed from Northern Italian salada, salata (compare insalata), from Vulgar Latin *salāta, from *salāre, from Latin saliō, from sal (“salt”). Vegetables were seasoned with brine or salty oil-and-vinegar dressings during Roman times.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "dercat",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro"
      },
      "expansion": ""
    },
    {
      "name": "langname",
      "args": {
        "1": "ine-pro"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European"
    },
    {
      "name": "word",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine",
        "3": "sḗh₂l",
        "id": ""
      },
      "expansion": ""
    },
    {
      "name": "PIE word",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "sḗh₂l"
      },
      "expansion": "PIE word\n *sḗh₂l"
    },
    {
      "name": "etymon",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": ":inh",
        "3": "enm:salade",
        "tree": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Etymology tree\nItalian salatader.\nOld French saladebor.\nMiddle English salade\nEnglish salad\n[Appendix:Glossary#loanword|Borrowed]] from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ { \"keyword_abbrev\" : \"der.\", \"keyword_label\" : \"Derived from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"alt\" : \"salata\", \"children\" : [ ], \"lang_name\" : \"Italian\", \"term\" : \"salato\", \"status\" : \"missing\", \"lang\" : \"it\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"derived\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Old French\", \"term\" : \"salade\", \"status\" : \"inline\", \"lang\" : \"fro\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"bor\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Middle English\", \"term\" : \"salade\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"enm\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"English\", \"term\" : \"salad\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"en\" }\" data-lang=\"en\" data-title=\"salad\">"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "salade"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English salade"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "salade"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French salade"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "it",
        "3": "salada"
      },
      "expansion": "Italian salada"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la-vul",
        "3": "",
        "4": "*salāta"
      },
      "expansion": "Vulgar Latin *salāta"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "saliō"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin saliō"
    },
    {
      "name": "etymon",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": ":inh",
        "3": "enm:salade",
        "tree": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Etymology tree\nItalian salatader.\nOld French saladebor.\nMiddle English salade\nEnglish salad"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "*sḗh₂l",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/sḗh₂l"
    ],
    [
      "salata",
      "salato#Italian"
    ],
    [
      "salade",
      "salade#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "salade",
      "salade#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "salade",
      "salade#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "salade",
      "salade#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "salada",
      "salada#Italian"
    ],
    [
      "salata",
      "salata"
    ],
    [
      "insalata",
      "insalata"
    ],
    [
      "*salāre",
      "Reconstruction:Latin/salare"
    ],
    [
      "saliō",
      "salio#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "sal",
      "sal#Latin"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [
    {
      "lang": "Scottish Gaelic",
      "lang_code": "gd",
      "word": "sailead",
      "raw_tags": [
        "borrowed"
      ]
    },
    {
      "lang": "Welsh",
      "lang_code": "cy",
      "word": "salad",
      "raw_tags": [
        "borrowed"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "A food consisting principally of raw vegetables (especially greens, e.g. lettuce), other savoury ingredients (typically cooked), fruit, or confectionary; often involving two or more such ingredients mixed together, with larger items cut or torn into small pieces, and usually with a dressing or binding; usually served cold or at room temperature, as a dish or savoury sandwich filling.",
        "One or more raw vegetables of the kind used in salads; typically greens (especially lettuce).",
        "Any mixture of different things."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable",
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "recordId": "d08760bcb2f399241ec2c917969412f19fe93db3ce6decbc9eaec2c62df550aa",
      "rawRecordSha256": "ebdc579dac3a70c4d6a7ba209ff7be4de90a385b2479c7687d183fd22978173c",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 155206
    }
  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
    "references": 0,
    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for salad →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-c2FsYWQ