Salubrious - An Often Misused Word of Latin Origin

With a background in brand strategy extending more than two decades, Sparta, NJ, executive Michael Perry leads ClubsGalore as head of marketing. His Sparta activities include driving communication strategies, as well as website traffic and conversion results. Michael Perry is an avid reader who enjoys the works of Cicero and has a passion for etymology, or the origin of words.

1. Salubrious - An Often Misused Word of Latin Origin Michael Perry, Sparta

2. Introduction With a background in brand strategy extending more than two decades, Sparta, NJ, executive Michael Perry leads ClubsGalore as head of marketing. His Sparta activities include driving communication strategies, as well as website traffic and conversion results. Michael Perry is an avid reader who enjoys the works of Cicero and has a passion for etymology, or the origin of words. One notoriously difficult-to-use word taken up recently by the Columbia Journalism Review is “salubrious.” Derived from “ salus ,” a Latin word for health, salubrious became part of the English lexicon in the 1500s and is used to describe foods and medicines that are beneficial to health.

3. Salubrious Broader usages include prosperous, comfortable, pleasant, and attractive. In modern usage, the word is often used as part of the phrase “less salubrious” in describing things that are unsafe, unethical, not laudable, or downright dangerous. The word is used to describe less-than-reputable airlines as well as unforthcoming politicians. Readers unfamiliar with the exact meaning of “salubrious” may take incorrect usages in publications such as The Economist as impetus for even more strained usages in their own writing.