salary
n.n. the fixed amount of money an employer pays you for your work. You usually receive this money regularly, such as every month or every year.
n. a fixed regular payment made by an employer to an employee, typically paid monthly and often expressed as an annual sum. Distinct from an hourly wage.
She earns a good salary.
He accepted the job offer because the salary was higher than his current position.
Although the base salary was only average, the comprehensive benefits package and performance-based bonuses made the overall compensation highly competitive.
Middle English salarie was carried across by the Normans from Old French salaire, itself a borrowing of Latin salārium. The Latin word is the exact neuter of the adalt adjective salārius ("to do with salt"), built from sal ("salt"). The form already had the sense "wages"; none of the ancient authors bothered to mention why.
Because salārium argentum is not recorded, scholarly opinion has preferred a clipped form salārium for the payroll: either "salt-money" paid to Roman troops, or "money earmarked for salt". No period document confirms soldiers being handed blocks of salt; no ledger survives listing salt among wages. The leap from condiment to coin happened before documentary habit began, and English simply took the Normans' word for it.