The phrase salt of the earth describes someone who is essential and pure of heart, a reference to the biblical Sermon on the Mount. To salt the earth usually means to render the ground useless, whether metaphorically or literally. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Salting the Earth vs. Salt of the Earth”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, my name’s Leslie. I’m calling from Dallas, Texas.
Hi, Leslie. Welcome to the show.
Hey, Leslie.
Hi, thank you.
I was calling because we’ve all heard that expression, a person is salt of the earth, and it’s a decidedly good thing. But there’s also the saying, someone salted the earth, and it’s decidedly negative. And I was wondering where those expressions came from and how one can be so positive and the other is so negative.
I love the diametrically opposed sayings. Salt of the earth meaning someone is good and salting the earth meaning what? That they’ve ruined a thing or spoiled a thing? That was how I had heard it. It was like they sabotaged it for the next person.
So not knowing any of the context, I imagined it was the farming thing. Like they had to leave their farm, so they put salt in the earth to foil the next person’s attempts at growing something. But that’s my guess, because obviously I don’t know.
Well, that’s a very good guess. There are stories from the past, even in the Bible. There’s a story about Abimelech, the judge of the Israelites, who sowed his own town with salt after he quelled a revolt against him. But this might have been just a ritual. We really don’t know if in the past people literally took salt and poured it on land that they had conquered.
But you’re right, that would be a very negative thing. It might have been just kind of a ritualistic thing that a victor might do, just throwing some salt and somehow that was supposed to magically make the ground unusable. Although it kind of doesn’t make sense if you’re the victor and you want to keep that land, why would you ruin it? But you’re right also that salt of the earth is something that’s very positive. In fact, that goes back to the Bible too in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says you’re the salt of the earth.
But if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? That is, you’re really good, you’re really pure, and stay that way. Don’t get deluded by the influences of the world. So yeah, they’re two very different ideas.
Yeah, there’s a fantastic book all about salt. It’s called Salt, A World History by Mark Kolanski. It’s got fantastic ratings everywhere and great reviews. I highly recommend it. You will find that salt and human history go hand in hand.
Well, that would make sense. I can’t wait to learn more about it. Thank you.
Yeah.
Well, Leslie, call us again sometime and we’ll talk about pepper. And then cinnamon.
Oh, man, you’re going to expand my culinary horizon so far. Take care and be well.
Thanks, Leslie.
Thank you so much.
All righty.
Bye-bye.
Words at waywordradio.org.
