"Salt"

[fiefoe]

The introduction was the most interesting part: People used to believe that rats didn't need to mate to reproduce, they just needed to have salt; Among the 14,000 uses of salt is making whipped cream faster; Indian soldiers pledged their allegiance to the British with salt; Covenant of Salt; Agricultural societies need salt, cattle need salt. But sadly, Mark Kurlansky is perhaps most convincing about something else: overfishing.

Chinese: percussive drilling, state monopoly on salt & iron, frog stomach dish in Zigong
Celts: bright clothing, bodies found in Xingjiang, invented ham
Basque: first commercial whalers

Roman:garum = Chinese:soysauce  (And it became ketchup.)
Related words: salad, soldier, salacious
Pot ash->potassium, soda->sodium; Plutonism vs. Neptunism 

Ref:
上古部落首领的名号无不跟他的发明创造有关。伏羲氏发明捕鱼狩猎、神农氏发明种植五谷、有巢氏发明建造庐舍、燧人氏发明钻木取火，他们的发明创造都隐含在名号里。唯被后人尊为乐神的葛天氏名号来源一直是困惑人们的一个话题..最近，读《诗经》，使人猛有所悟。原来，葛天氏部落不仅是乐舞的发明者，也是织布、穿衣的发明者。由于葛天氏部落首领利用葛这种植物纤维造福部落之民，后人才称之为“葛天氏”。