Salami
/səˈlɑː.mi/noun
A seasoned, usually cured sausage made from fermented and air-dried meat.
Did you know?Salami is part of a huge family of cure-and-preserve words ultimately linked to Latin *sal* (“salt”), the substance that once literally kept meat from rotting and made food travel across empires.
Etymological Timeline
Modern English
English
salami
“A cured sausage, especially one sliced for eating cold.”
19th Century
Italian
salame
“A large salted sausage made from minced meat.”
Medieval Latin
Latin
salumen
“A salted meat product or salt-cured food.”
Classical Latin
Latin
sal
“Salt.”
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*séh₂l-
“Salt.”