Lecture 29: Nasty Words and Nice Words
Salutary (adjective)3URGXFLQJDEHQH¿FLDOHIIHFWUHPHGLDOz Both salubrious and salutary can describe something that’s good
for your health, but salutary can also describe something that’s
EHQH¿FLDOLQDPRUHJHQHUDOVHQVH$FFRUGLQJWRThe Artful Nuance
by Rod L. Evans, “What is salutary promotes an improvement,
especially an educational, a psychological, or a moral one.” In
this sense, you’ll often hear salutary used along with effect, as in
“Research has proven that unstructured play has a salutary effect on
children’s social and emotional development.”z The salu morpheme is found in several Latin words related to health
and welfare, including salubrious and salutary, as well as salute
and salutation. When you greet someone with a salutation, you
generally ask about that person’s health. When the ancient Romans
greeted one another, they typically said, “Salve!” which literally
means “Be well!” In French, a more informal greeting is “Salut!”,Q,ULVKDFRPPRQWRDVWLV³Slainte ́PHDQLQJ³KHDOWK ́WKLVZRUGLVGLVWDQWO\
related to the Latin salusZKLFKDOVRPHDQV³KHDOWK ́© Horsche/iStock/Thinkstock.