Etymology

Attic salt

At·tic salt

Today it means: Pointed and delicate wit. Full definition →

Latin sāl Atticus
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Latin · calque ofsāl Atticus
  2. English todayAttic salt

Attic + salt; a calque of Latin sāl Atticus or sāl Atticum. In classical times “salt” was a frequent metaphor for “wit”.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.