Salt merchant
B. T.
English?
Though a google search yields gut result, I still wonder if it sounds
idiomatic for a native speaker.
Thanks!
Mark Wallace
"B. T." <b...@tiede-web.de> wrote in message
news:1177757487.1...@h2g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
> Are merchants who traded with salt previously called salt merchants in
> English?
I imagine they would be called "former salt merchants", if it were their
previous trade.
contrex
> Are merchants who traded with salt previously called salt merchants in
> English?
In England they were called 'salters'. The word survives as a family
name like Cooper, Baker, Carpenter etc.
With Henry II's marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152, a large area
of south west France came under the English crown. There was an
assured English and North European market for Gascon wine and Biscay
salt. This trade prospered through the 13th century with imports into
England through London and the ports of southern England. In London
the trade of the salt merchants was localised in the Bread Street area
and here they formed a Fraternity of Salters for their mutual aid;
later to become a chief City Livery Company.
Peter Duncanson
wrote:
Whose URL is: <http://www.salters.co.uk/>
--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.english.usage)
Flying Tortoise
It's not 'salt cellars' then? ;c)
Martin Ambuhl
It is idiomatic in English to call a merchant dealing in product <x> an
<x> merchant. Everyone will understand it; no one will think it odd.
For an example of use, note the way it is used in the following definition:
[SOED5]
brinjarry, noun. /brIn"dZA;ri/ arch. Also bunjara /bVn"dZA;r@/. M17.
[Alt. of Deccan Urdu banjQra from Hindi, ult. from Sanskrit va:ijQ
trade.]
A travelling grain and salt merchant of the Deccan in southern India.
Here are some further examples of the <x> merchant or <x>-merchant
construction, just so you can see how unremarkable it is. They are all
from the SOED5 (where you can find more of them).
A similar use of 'nail-merchant' occurs in this definition:
[SOED5]
fogger, noun. /"fQg@/ L16.
[Perh. from Fugger, surname of a family of merchants and financiers of
Augsburg in the 15th and 16th cents.]
1. A person given to underhand practices for the sake of gain; esp. a
low-class lawyer. Long obsolete exc. in PETTIFOGGER. L16.
2. A petty chapman; a pedlar. dial. E19.
3. A middleman between a nail-maker and a wholesale nail-merchant.
obsolete exc. Hist. M19.
and of 'wine-merchant' in this etymology:
[SOED5]
grummet, noun1. /"grVmIt/ obsolete exc. Hist. L16.
[Old French gro(u)met servant, valet, shop-boy, wine-merchant's
assistant (see GOURMET) = Spanish grumete ship's boy.]
A ship's boy; a cabin-boy.
and of 'hardware merchant':
[SOED5]
ironmonger, noun. /"VI@nmVNg@/ ME.
[from IRON noun + MONGER.]
A dealer in metal utensils, tools, etc.; a hardware merchant.
and of 'wool-merchant':
[SOED5]
lanner, noun. /"lan@/ LME.
[Old & mod. French lanier, perh. use as noun of lanier cowardly, from
derog. use of lanier weaver from Latin lanarius wool-merchant, from
lana wool: see -ER2.]
A falcon, Falco biarmicus, found in Africa and countries bordering on
the Mediterranean; in Falconry, the female of this. Also lanner
falcon.
and of 'timber merchant':
[SOED5, s.v. 'lumber']
lumber baron N. Amer. a leading or wealthy timber merchant;
Flying Tortoise
> B. T. wrote:
> > Are merchants who traded with salt previously called salt merchants in
> > English?
>
> > Though a google search yields gut result, I still wonder if it sounds
> > idiomatic for a native speaker.
>
> It is idiomatic in English to call a merchant dealing in product <x> an
> <x> merchant. Everyone will understand it; no one will think it odd.
>
> For an example of use, note the way it is used in the following definition:
> [SOED5]
> brinjarry, noun. /brIn"dZA;ri/ arch. Also bunjara /bVn"dZA;r@/. M17.
> [Alt. of Deccan Urdu banjQra from Hindi, ult. from Sanskrit va:ijQ
> trade.]
>
> A travelling grain and salt merchant of the Deccan in southern India.
>