Babak Fakhamzadeh
In essence, the book is a compendium of salt-related trivia against a backdrop of world history. This is not as weird as it sounds, as salt is an essential commodity and has often been under strict state control, from China to ancient Rome.
A few interesting bits:
+ The ancient Romans sometimes payed their soldiers in salt, the source of the word 'salary'. + The Frenchified version of 'salary', 'solde', is the source for the word 'soldier'. + 'Hal' is a word for 'salt'. Presumably Germanic or Keltic, but the author does not disclose that information. That means that cities like Halle, Hallstad and quite a few others (in Europe) were named after their major souce of income. + The word for the French used by the Romans, 'Gaul', also hails from the same linguistic source. + 'Salad' comes from the Romans putting salt on their veggies. + Kurlansky (when writing the book in 2002) draws parallels between the European Celts and the Tarim mummies of Uighur China. Something in which he seems to have been proven right.
In essence, the book is a compendium of salt-related trivia against a backdrop of world history. This is not as weird as it sounds, as salt is an essential commodity and has often been under strict state control, from China to ancient Rome.
A few interesting bits:
+ The ancient Romans sometimes payed their soldiers in salt, the source of the word 'salary'. + The Frenchified version of 'salary', 'solde', is the source for the word 'soldier'. + 'Hal' is a word for 'salt'. Presumably Germanic or Keltic, but the author does not disclose that information. That means that cities like Halle, Hallstad and quite a few others (in Europe) were named after their major souce of income. + The word for the French used by the Romans, 'Gaul', also hails from the same linguistic source. + 'Salad' comes from the Romans putting salt on their veggies. + Kurlansky (when writing the book in 2002) draws parallels between the European Celts and the Tarim mummies of Uighur China. Something in which he seems to have been proven right.