1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Salary

SALARY, a payment for services rendered, usually a stipulated sum paid monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly, and for a permanent or lengthy term of employment. It is generally contrasted with “wages,” a term applied to weekly or daily payment for manual services. As laid down by Bowen, L. J., In re Shine (1892) 1 Q.B. 529, “Salary means a definite payment for personal services under some contract and computed by time.” The Latin salarium meant originally salt money (Lat. sal, salt), i.e. the sum paid to soldiers for salt. In post-Augustan Latin the word was applied to any allowance, pension or stipend.