A Dictionary of Cont..

grain of it will make some improbability more
easy to “swallow.” To this extent, the recommendation
that an account of some unlikely
event be ruken with CI grain of salt is merely a
hackneyed metaphor. But those who insist on
being doubly dull, on being trite in a dead: laoguage,
and say cum grano salis, have made a
double exposure of their insufficiencies because
the proper Latin phrase is uddiro salis gruno.
And, what’s more, no one knows exactly what
it means in its original context. Pliny (of all
people to whom to trace back a metaphor advising
skepticism!) says that when Pompey
seized Mithridates’ palace he found the prescription
for Mithridates’ famous antidote
against poison, the last line of which read 1’0 be
taken jading, plus a grain of suit. But these is
no evidence that Pliny was tipping anyone the
wink. Pliny never tipped a wink or took a grain
of salt in his life.
sahtary. See healthy.
salvation; salvage. Salvage, the more specialized
and technical term, describes the act of sa.viog
a ship or its cargo from the perils of the sea,
the property so saved, or compensation given to
those who voluntarily save a ship or its cargo.
By extension the word is used to describe: the
saving of anything from fire, danger, etc., the
property so saved, or the value or proceeds upon
sale of goods recovered from a tie. (See also
flotsam.)
Salvation describes the act of saving or delivering
(The salvation of troops at Dunkirk wus
accomplished by the labors of the crews of
hundreds of small bouts), the state of being
saved or delivered, or the source, cause, or
means of deliverance (The military band wus
the salvation of many a soldier chafing under
army discipline. The C.C.C. camps were the
salvation of hundreds of thousands of boys during
the depression years). Theologically, salvation
means the delivery from the power and
penalty of sin, redemption (Wherefore, my beloved,
as ye have always obeyed, not as in my
presence only, but now much more in my ubsence,
work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling).
same may be used as an adjective or alone ;a.s a
noun or pronoun. In present-day English the
pronoun sume means “exactly similar,” as in
I paid him five dollars and I will pay you the
same. Formerly it could be used to mean the
identical thing mentioned before, as in our munijold
sins and wickedness . . . that we may
obtain forgiveness of rhe same. This use of the
word is now archaic and out of place in everyday
speech. IO literary English same is always
preceded by the article the (or by this or that).
Sentences such as we are sending same today
are not archaic, but unliterary businessese.
Same means “identical with” and may refer
to words that have preceded it or to words lthat
are to follow. When the words follow and are
less than a complete clause, that is, when they
do not contain a true verb, they must be introduced
by as, as in he gave fhe same answer us
before. When what follows is a clause, it may
431 SEUlCtity
be introduced by rhut, as, when, where, or who,
as in he gave the same answer that 1 did, the
same unswer as I did, at rhe same time when I
was, at the same place where I was, he is the
same man who was here yesterday. That can be
used in place of as, when, where, who, as in
al the sume time that I was, he is the same man
Ihal was here, and is preferred to these words.
When it would have any function except subject
of the verb, that may be omitted, as in at the
sume rime I was, he is the same man I suw
yesterday.
Which is sometimes used to introduce a clause
which explains the meaning of same, as in it
has the same effect which good breeding has
and the same relation to them which the others
have. This is technically permissible, but it is
unnatural English.
sample. See example, section.
sanatorium. See sanitarium.
sanatory; sanitary. Sanarory means healing, cooducive
to health, therapeutic (the sanorory arl,
Fielding’s voyage to Lisbon was not, alas, the
sunufory journey his friends had hoped it would
be). Sanitary means pertaining to health or the
conditions affecting health, with especial reference
to cleanliness and precautions against disease
(An electric dishwasher is more likely to
leave dishes sanitary than u dishrag). Sanitary
is often misused for sanutory.
sanction has acquired a number of popular meaoings
which are somewhat removed from its original
meaning. The word is now commonly
understood to mean authoritative permission,
countenance or support given to an action, solemn
ratification (Have you the sanction of rhe
board of governors for this action? The military
government refused to give its sanction fo
fraternization between conquerors and conquered).
It also means something serving to
support an action, binding force given, or something
which gives binding force, as to an oath,
a rule of conduct (There is sanction for this in
the Beatitudes).
Sanction is used more strictly in law and
international law. 10 law it means a provision of
a law enacting a penalty for disobedience or a
reward for obedience, or the penalty or reward
so enacted. In international law it means action,
short of war, usually a boycott, by one or more
states toward another state calculated to force
it to comply with legal obligations (The English
and the French jailed fo apply sanctions to rhe
Germans when they marched into the Rhineland.
The cruel farce of the sanctions applied
against Italy when she invaded Ethiopia was
interpreted by the fascist nutions as an admission
of weakness).
sanctity of the home. 10 ancient Rome, where
every paterfamilias was a priest and performed
sacrifices within the house, where every house
had its household gods and where ancestors
were worshipped, the sanctity of the home was
a real thing. But in crowded tenements, hotels
and mass-produced suburbs among a migratory
population, with the performance of religious
observances restricted to a special class and