Myth Category: Uncertain

Partially true. The word “salary” does derive from Latin “salarium,” connected to “sal” (salt) — and Pliny the Elder explicitly makes this connection in 77 CE. But whether Roman soldiers were literally paid in salt is disputed; most historians believe “salarium” referred to an allowance to buy salt, not salt itself. The etymology is genuine; the “paid in actual salt” story may be a simplification of a more complex reality.

The plague theory is uncertain. While Pope Gregory I did encourage blessings after sneezing during a Rome plague around 590 CE, sneezing superstitions existed in ancient Greece, Rome, and other cultures long before any medieval plague. The custom almost certainly predates the Black Death by centuries, and the plague connection — while possible — is one of several explanations, not the definitive one.