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Above the salt

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phrases which have survived the old custom, in the houses of people of rank, of placing a large saltcellar near the middle of a long table, the places above which were assigned to the guests of distinction, and those below to dependents, inferiors, and poor relations. See Saltfoot.

See also: Salt


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Old lines about knights at table in the great banquet halls, and of those above the salt and below the salt, and of Vikings feasting fresh from sea and ripe for battle, came to me; and I knew that the old times were not dead and that we belonged to that selfsame ancient breed.
John Barleycorn by London, Jack View in context
At this, above the salt, sat the visiting nobles and the grown members of their families, of both sexes, -- the resident Court, in effect -- sixty-one per- sons; below the salt sat minor officers of the house- hold, with their principal subordinates: altogether a hundred and eighteen persons sitting, and about as many liveried servants standing behind their chairs, or serving in one capacity or another.
A Connecticut Yankee by Twain, Mark View in context
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