Salsa Is Sauce, in Music as Well as Food
Salsa is a spicy tomato sauce and a Latin dance music. The Spanish word simply means sauce.
Salsa is a spicy sauce of tomatoes, chillies and onions, and also a style of Latin dance music. Spanish *salsa* simply means sauce, from Latin *salsus*, salted — so it is a cousin of *sauce*, *salad* and *salami*. The music took the name in New York in the 1960s and 1970s as a general label for a Cuban-rooted mix, the idea being that the music was spicy, a blend of ingredients. A performer shouting *¡salsa!* to urge the band on helped fix the name.
- A spicy sauce. *Chips and salsa.*
- A dance music style. *Dance the salsa.*
- Spanish — sauce. *Salsa.*
- Latin — *salsus*, salted. *The root.*
- Son cubano — its musical base. *Cuban son.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | salsa | Salsa. |
| Plural | salsas | Salsas. |
| Spanish | salsa | Sauce. |
| Related | sauce | Sauce. |
| Latin | salsus | Salted. |
- Serve the salsa with warm tortillas.Food.
- They took salsa lessons.Dance.
- Salsa means sauce.Spanish.
The salsus family
- Salsa — Spanish for sauce
- Sauce — the same word through French
- Salad — salted greens
- Salami — salted meat
- Salsify — a root vegetable, unrelated despite the look
Spanish *salsa*, sauce, from Latin *salsa*, the feminine of *salsus*, salted.
Why is the music called salsa?
It was a marketing label used in New York from the 1960s for a spicy blend of Cuban-rooted styles, the way a sauce blends ingredients.
Are salsa and sauce the same word?
Yes. Salsa is the Spanish form and sauce the French form of Latin salsa, salted.