Worth One's Salt

            The idiomatic expression “ worth one’s salt ” means that someone deserves his or her reward or salary. It also means that a person deserves respect and admiration.

         The origin of this expression can be traced to the fact that salt was a very important commodity during the 18^th and 19^th centuries. With the absence of advanced technology for food preservation , salt was used not only to enhance the flavor of food but also to prevent spoilage . Like gold and silver coins , salt was  recognized as a form of currency. It was used to barter  meat , bread , leather and other important stuff.

           Some sources say that in the earlier centuries ,some workers  and soldiers  were paid  in “ salt ”. However , some scholars contradict this. Anyway , "salt "  has not lost its  association with money.  It  should be noted that the Latin word  for salt is “ sal ”, which is the root word  of the English word “ salary ”.