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The English word salary comes from the Latin salarium, which is tied to sal, salt. The popular story that Roman soldiers were paid in salt is stronger than the evidence. What we can say is narrower and still good: salt was valuable enough that a word for pay grew out of a word for salt. Language kept the mineral inside the paycheck.

Salary remembers salt. The part about soldiers being paid in it is the shaky bit.

salary · Online Etymology Dictionary · Year unknown · Factapp