Grain of salt

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"(With) a grain of salt," in modern English, is an idiom which means to view something with skepticism, or to not take it literally.^[1] It derives from the Latin phrase, (cum) grano salis.

Since in Italy "to have salt in your pumpkin" (avere sale in zucca - pumpkin is a humorous way to say "head") means to have intelligence and reasoning capabilities, "grain of salt" often means "a little bit of intelligence."^{[citation needed]} So, "cum grano salis," in its Latin form, is often used when it is needed to show that intelligence and personal judgment are needed, as in "I drink wine cum grano salis since I must drive" (with care, moderately) or "please, repair this electric cable cum grano salis" (not scanting, or while thinking seriously about the consequences or dangers of repairing your electric cable).

History

The phrase comes from Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia, regarding the discovery of a recipe for an antidote to a poison.^[2] In the antidote, one of the ingredients was a grain of salt. Threats involving the poison were thus to be taken "with a grain of salt," and therefore less seriously. An alternative account says that the Roman general Pompey believed he could make himself immune to poison by ingesting small amounts of various poisons, and he took this treatment with a grain of salt to help him swallow the poison. In this version, the salt is not the antidote. It was taken merely to assist in swallowing the poison.

The Dutch language has a similar phrase: een korreltje zout.^[3] (Dutch pronunciation: [əŋˈkɔrɛɫtʃə ˈzʌu̯t]) as has the Danish language: et gran salt.^[4]

The Latin word salis means both "salt" and "wit," so that the Latin phrase "cum grano salis" could be translated as both "with a grain of salt" and "with a grain (small amount) of wit."

References