Throughout history, one mineral has been prized above all others. Salt. Animals and people alike want it. Today we think of it as a seasoning, but in the past, it was much more. Many societies bartered with it, using it like money. The salary paid to a Roman soldier often included salt rations.
Did you know salt in Latin is sal? The English word salary comes from the Latin word for salt rations or allowances, Salarium.
Using it as a commodity, meant people often carried salt with them, just like we carry money—or used to carry money. Seeing salt as the equivalent of money—and thinking in literal terms—expressions like “worth his salt,” “earned his salt,” and “worth his weight in salt,” make sense. They literally mean he was worth or earned what he was paid.
Salt itself is good luck, but there are both bad and good superstitions tied to it.
Bad Superstitions
- Don’t spill salt. The number of grains you spill represents the number of tears you’ll cry later. (Makes sense since losing a valuable commodity like salt was tantamount to throwing money away.)
- Don’t knock over a salt cellar. (A large container of salt kept on the table.) The result of such clumsiness will mean the end of a friendship.
- Don’t put salt on someone else’s food. Doing so can bring them bad luck. (Doctors don’t recommend it either.)
- Don’t loan or borrow salt. You can gift/be gifted it or sell/buy it, but no lending. And don’t think about returning it. That just worsens the bad luck. When it comes to salt, live by the old saying “neither a borrower nor lender be.”
Good Superstitions
- Carrying sea salt in your pocket brings good luck, especially on a new journey.
- As a preservative, salt prevents decay and is associated with God, meaning the devil hates it. Tossing salt over your left shoulder keeps away both bad luck and the devil.
- Salt also turns away evil spirits and demons. Placing bags of salt over a baby’s cradle protects the child prior to baptism.
- Salt is used for the protection of places, too. Moving into a new house? Carrying in coal and a plate of salt first brings good luck. (Another version recommends carrying a loaf of bread and a dish of salt around the house.)
Rule of Thumb
If you’re the suspicious type and want good luck, pull out the salt . . . just don’t spill it, loan it, or borrow it.