Open World p 44

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Did you know that the word salary derives from the Latin word for salt, salarium?

It may be one of the cheapest and most readily available items on your shopping list today, but salt has had a tremendous importance in economies across the world throughout history.

Due to legal restrictions in its production, it was precious enough to be welcomed as payment for wages as well as in trade.

I had always wondered why we say someone is ‘not worth his salt’ when we mean he is not good enough. So is that linked to salt being used to pay workers?

Another thing I learnt is that salt is still used as currency today among the nomads of the Danakil plains in Ethiopia.



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The benefits of using seashells as currency were many: they are small, light, durable and easy to transport.

Perhaps the key advantage was that they have very specific shapes and distinctive textures, making forgery a challenge.

Apparently, China was the first to use them as currency, which surprised me as the cowrie shells came from places like the Maldives and other parts of the Indian and Pacific oceans.

I need to do some more research on how they managed to transport them so far.

One really fascinating fact is that the Chinese language still reflects this aspect of China’s history as words related to money contain the symbol for a cowrie shell!


Vocabulary:


cowrie: /ˈkaʊri/ a small shiny shell that was used as money in the past in parts of Africa and Asia.