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You are here: Home / Language / Where does the word “saltpeter” come from and What does saltpeter mean in Latin?

Where does the word “saltpeter” come from and What does saltpeter mean in Latin?

March 1, 2020 by Karen Hill

An alternative spelling of “saltpeter”, preferred in England, is saltpetre.

Chemically, saltpeter is potassium nitrate, a compound essential to the making of gunpowder and also of important value as a fertilizer.

The name comes from the Latin sal petrae, “salt of the rock,” so-called because it is sometimes found in nature as an efflorescence on rocks or soil.

However, saltpeter is definitely not to be confused with rock salt, even though it has a saline taste.

Rock salt is merely sodium chloride (table salt) which has been induced to form large, rather than small, crystals.

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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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