Where does “sāl-” come from?

sāl- (Proto-Balto-Slavic) comes from Proto-Indo-European sal- — dirty, grey; dirt, dirty; grayish, impure gray.

Ancestry of “sāl-”, step by step

sāl- traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Proto-Indo-European sal-

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Proto-Indo-Europeansal-dirty, grey; dirt, dirty; grayish, impure gray

via Proto-Indo-European seh₂l-

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Proto-Indo-Europeanseh₂l-salt, sea salt
Every word from Proto-Indo-European sal-