Did you know?
Romans called witty remarks “salts”
Pliny wrote that life's pleasures could not exist without salt, and that the Latin word for wit was sales, “salts.” The Greeks had their own version: sharp Athenian humour is still called “Attic salt.”
Read the full story: The Salty Words in Your Vocabulary
More salt facts
Cite this page
For school projects and reports. Teachers often prefer the original sources too: see the list below.
The Salt Almanac. (2026, November 8). Romans called witty remarks salts. https://saltalmanac.com/did-you-know/roman-wit-was-salt
“Romans called witty remarks salts.” The Salt Almanac, 8 Nov. 2026, saltalmanac.com/did-you-know/roman-wit-was-salt. Accessed [today's date].
“Romans called witty remarks salts.” The Salt Almanac. Last modified November 8, 2026. https://saltalmanac.com/did-you-know/roman-wit-was-salt.
Original sources
- Pliny the Elder. Natural History, Book 31, ch. 41. Bostock & Riley trans., 1855. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=31:chapter=41