NODE / 0523reconstructedProto-Germanic
*saltom
salt
- DATE
- Proto-Germanic prehistory
- SENSE
- common salt
- FAMILY
- Indo-European / Germanic
- CANONICAL KEY
- node:5:saltom:reconstructed:sense:common-salt
The form follows Etymonline's representation; comparative sources publish related reflex sets.
*This form is reconstructed by comparison. It is not directly attested in this exact written form.
01ANCESTRAL EDGES
ROOT OF THIS ROOT
GO DEEPERinheritanceprobable
Proto-Indo-European · c. 4500–2500 BCE*séh₂l-
salt
- SOUND
- Proto-Germanic *saltom belongs to the Indo-European salt family represented as *séh₂l- in the existing dossier and *sal- in other references.
- MEANING
- The material salt meaning remains stable; no payment sense exists at the reconstructed stage.
- SCHOLAR
- Mallory & Adams · Etymonline · UT LRC editors
- CONFIDENCE
- probable — Root notation differs across references without changing the comparative salt-family claim.
02DIRECT DESCENDANT EDGES
THE NEXT HISTORICAL STEP
03TRANSITIVE DESCENDANT CLOSURE
EVERY REVIEWED BRANCH FROM HERE
This is the complete downstream closure currently supported by the canonical graph. Every displayed step is a real reviewed edge with its own sound claim, meaning claim, scholar, confidence, and citations.
- UNIQUE DESCENDANT NODES
- 3
- REVIEWED EDGES
- 3
- DEEPEST PATH
- 3
- MODERN DOSSIERS REACHED
- 1
HISTORICAL STEP 011 EDGE
STEP 01inheritanceprobable
- SOUND
- Old English sealt regularly continues reconstructed Proto-Germanic *saltom.
- MEANING
- The material salt sense remains stable across Germanic.
HISTORICAL STEP 021 EDGE
STEP 02inheritanceestablished
- SOUND
- Old English sealt loses or reshapes inherited inflection while the stem stabilizes as Middle English salt.
- MEANING
- The condiment and preservative meaning remains central.
Merriam-Webster · UT LRC editors2 CITATIONSEDGE 485 ↗ HISTORICAL STEP 031 EDGE
STEP 03historical continuationestablished
- SOUND
- Middle English salt continues with stable spelling into modern English while pronunciation changes.
- MEANING
- The material sense remains while figurative savor, sailor, and chemical-class senses develop.
Merriam-Webster · Etymonline editors2 CITATIONSEDGE 484 ↗ “Every” means every descendant in the reviewed SET-U graph. It does not convert missing scholarship or missing ingestion into a claim of historical completeness. The coverage ledger remains the honest denominator.
04RECORDED EVIDENCE
ATTESTATIONS / FIRST KNOWN USE
NO RECORDED WITNESS ATTACHED.That is expected for a reconstructed form: the node is inferred from comparison, not quoted from a surviving occurrence.
05EDITORIAL REUSE
WORD DOSSIERS USING THIS NODE