salt of the earth

English

Etymology

Calque of Ancient Greek τὸ ἅλας τῆς γῆς (tò hálas tês gês) in the Book of Matthew, chapter 5, verse 13.

Pronunciation

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Noun

salt of the earth

1. (idiomatic) A person or group of people considered to represent the most decent and admirable parts of humanity.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 5:13:

     Yee are the ſalt of the earth: But if the ſalt haue loſt his ſauour, wherewith ſhall it bee ſalted: It is thencefoꝛth good foꝛ nothing, but to be caſt out, and to be troden vnder foote of men.

   • 1986 May 15, George Vecsey, “Locals at Second Base”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2015-05-24:

     Dodger fans, convinced they were the salt of the earth, would swear they could tell a Yankee fan from 20 paces by a lack of humor, or a New York Giant fan by an overbearing quality.

   • 2014 October 20, Barak Ravid, Noa Shpigel, “Body of Missing Israeli Found in Nepal”, in Haaretz‎^[2], archived from the original on 2023-06-05:

     "When someone dies, especially when a life is cut short under tragic circumstances, people always say, 'they were great, they were the salt of the earth,'" said Hagit Hornstein, a friend and colleague of Cherkesky. "But Michal [Cherkesky] really was perfect. There's no other word to describe her, an angel. I miss her already."

Related terms

• down-to-earth, earthy

Translations

a decent, dependable person

• Arabic: ملح الأرض
• Armenian:

  Old Armenian: աղ երկրի (ał erkri)

• Catalan: sal de la terra
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 好人 (zh) (hǎorén)

• Finnish: kunnon ihminen, maan suola
• French: sel de la Terre m
• German: Salz der Erde (de) n
• Hebrew: מלח הארץ (he)
• Italian: sale della terra m
• Japanese: 地の塩 (ja):
• Korean: 세상의 소금 (sesang'ui sogeum):
• Latin: sal terrae
• Old English: eorþan sealt
• Ottoman Turkish: ملح (milh)
• Polish: sól ziemi (pl) f
• Portuguese: sal da terra m
• Romanian: sarea pământului f
• Russian: соль земли́ (ru) f (solʹ zemlí)
• Spanish: sal de la tierra
• Swedish: Jordens salt
• Thai: เกลือแห่งโลก (glʉʉa-hɛ̀ng-lôok), เกลือแห่งแผ่นดินโลก (glʉʉa-hɛ̀ng-pɛ̀n-din-lôok), คนดี (th) (kon-dii) (in the non-biblical sense)
• Welsh: halen y ddaear

See also

• worth one's salt

References

• “the salt of the earth”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “salt of the earth”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “salt of the earth”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “(the) salt of the earth” under “salt, n.1.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.