salaputium

Etymology
Borrowed from ; the breakdown of this otherwise unattested Oscan word would be. The compound is a metaphor for how refined one's own wit ("salt") may be.

The -a- between the first two elements is regular in Oscan to break up word-medial consonant clusters.

Usage notes

 * This word occurs only once within the Latin literature (hapax legomenon) and only in nominative case, as a humorous description of something 's friend Calvus did or is.
 * Its meaning was obscure already in Roman times, with Seneca the Elder interpreting the term as referring to Calvus's own short stature. See Weiss (1996) for etymology and interpretations.