*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of salon

Borrowed from French salon (“reception room”), from Middle French, from Italian salone (“large hall”), augmented form of sala (“hall”), from Lombardic sala (“room, house, entrance hall”), from Proto-Germanic *salą (“dwel

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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 large room, especially one used to receive and entertain guests. · A gathering of people for a social or intellectual meeting. · An art gallery or exhibition; especially the Paris salon or autumn salon. · A beauty salon or similar establishment.

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

Borrowed from French salon (“reception room”), from Middle French, from Italian salone (“large hall”), augmented form of sala (“hall”), from Lombardic sala (“room, house, entrance hall”), from Proto-Germanic *salą (“dwelling, house, hall”), from Proto-Indo-European *sel- (“human settlement, village, dwelling”). Cognate with Old High German sal (“room, house, entrance hall”), Old English sæl (“room, hall, castle”), Old Church Slavonic село (selo, “courtyard, village”), Lithuanian sala (“island”). Doublet of saloon.

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": "bor+",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
        "3": "salon",
        "4": "",
        "5": "reception room"
      },
      "expansion": "Borrowed from French salon (“reception room”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "frm",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle French"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "it",
        "3": "salone",
        "4": "",
        "5": "large hall"
      },
      "expansion": "Italian salone (“large hall”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "lng",
        "3": "sala",
        "4": "",
        "5": "room, house, entrance hall"
      },
      "expansion": "Lombardic sala (“room, house, entrance hall”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gem-pro",
        "3": "*salą",
        "4": "",
        "5": "dwelling, house, hall"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Germanic *salą (“dwelling, house, hall”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*sel-",
        "4": "",
        "5": "human settlement, village, dwelling"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *sel- (“human settlement, village, dwelling”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "goh",
        "2": "sal",
        "3": "",
        "4": "room, house, entrance hall"
      },
      "expansion": "Old High German sal (“room, house, entrance hall”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "ang",
        "2": "sæl",
        "3": "",
        "4": "room, hall, castle"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English sæl (“room, hall, castle”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "cu",
        "2": "село",
        "3": "",
        "4": "courtyard, village"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Church Slavonic село (selo, “courtyard, village”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "lt",
        "2": "sala",
        "3": "",
        "4": "island"
      },
      "expansion": "Lithuanian sala (“island”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "doublet",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "saloon"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of saloon"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "salon",
      "salon#French"
    ],
    [
      "salone",
      "salone#Italian"
    ],
    [
      "sala",
      "sala#Italian"
    ],
    [
      "sala",
      "sala#Old_High_German"
    ],
    [
      "*salą",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/salą"
    ],
    [
      "*sel-",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/sel-"
    ],
    [
      "sal",
      "sal#Old_High_German"
    ],
    [
      "sæl",
      "sæl#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "село",
      "село#Old_Church_Slavonic"
    ],
    [
      "sala",
      "sala#Lithuanian"
    ],
    [
      "saloon",
      "saloon#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "A large room, especially one used to receive and entertain guests.",
        "A gathering of people for a social or intellectual meeting.",
        "An art gallery or exhibition; especially the Paris salon or autumn salon.",
        "A beauty salon or similar establishment."
      ],
      "tags": [],
      "recordId": "6cdf26d3de821f1b54e670866316a4ba173b4e6cbe0f4c5f47eb2ce77d60baf6",
      "rawRecordSha256": "3ebc03951cb299e8441913b7457e5784e431a3655658bab1cb3401b07f402caf",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 445785
    }
  ],
  "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 salon →

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-c2Fsb24