Salt has always been a highly prized commodity. In the Bible, there is a reference in Ezekiel (16:4) to a custom of rubbing new borns with salt. Salt is prescribed as an offering to God. Roman soldiers were paid a special allowance to buy salt called the "salarium", a word that give us our "salary". "Salt of the earth"(coined by Jesus) and "worth his salt" derive from esteem of salt. Salt is valued not only for its flavor - one sign of its importance in the body is the fact that we have a specialized taste sensation for detecting it. It is used as a preservative, and a highly concentrated salt solution will draw water out of bacterial and mold cells and so inhibit their growth. The words salary, save, salvation, salami, salivate, salad, sage and salubrious are all derived from "sal" the Latin word for salt.
For more about salt, look it up in the Food Dictionary at www.epicurious.com.
Hope this helps you. If I come across more salt facts, I'll post them for you.
Thyme