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Origin and history of Salem

Salem

place mentioned in Genesis xiv.18, from Hebrew Shālēm, usually said to be another name for Jerusalem and to mean "peace" (compare Hebrew shalom, Arabic salaam). A typical meetinghouse name among Baptists and Methodists, so much so that by mid-19c. it (along with Bethel and Ebenezer) had come to be used in Britain generically to mean "non-conformist chapel."

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gerrymander
The towns as they lie are disposed as parts of a monster whose feet and claws are Salem and Marblehead....
Jim Crow
[Charles Lenox] R[emond] went to the Eastern rail-road depot, in order to visit his parents in Salem; but, instead of being...
a.m.
also a.m., 1762 in reference to hours, an abbreviation of Latin ante meridiem "before noon" (q.v.). Synonymous with "morning" by 1776. AM as a type of radio wave broadcast, 1921, abbreviation of amplitude modulation (see amplitude). Affixed to a name, an abbreviation of artium ma
am
first-person singular present indicative of be (q.v.); Old English eom "to be, to remain," (Mercian eam, Northumbrian am), from Proto-Germanic *izm(i)-, from PIE *esmi- (source also of Old Norse emi, Gothic im, Hittite esmi, Old Church Slavonic jesmi, Lithuanian esmi), first-pers
India
"the Indian subcontinent, central Asia south of the Himalayas," formerly sometimes used generally for "Asia;" Old English India, Indea, from Latin India, from Greek India "region of the Indus River," later used of the region beyond it, from Indos "Indus River," also "an Indian,"
Oregon
1765 as the name of a large river in the west of North America, probably the modern Columbia; a word of uncertain and disputed origin. It seems to be of Algonquian origin. In the U.S. it came to be applied to the northwest generally. From 1848 as the name of a U.S. territory, adm
or
c. 1200, "either, else, otherwise, as an alternative or substitute," from Old English conjunction oþþe "either, or," which is related to Old Frisian ieftha, Middle Dutch ofte, Old Norse eða, Old High German odar, German oder, Gothic aiþþau "or." This word was extended in early Mi
salaam
Arabic or Muslim greeting, 1610s, from Arabic salam (also in Urdu, Persian), literally "peace" (compare Hebrew shalom); in full, (as)salam 'alaikum "peace be upon you," from base of salima "he was safe" (compare Islam, Muslim). Formerly used generically of ceremonious salutations
capital
early 13c., "of or pertaining to the head," from Old French capital, from Latin capitalis "of the head," hence "capital, chief, first," from caput (genitive capitis) "head" (from PIE root *kaput- "head"). The meaning "main, principal, chief, dominant, first in importance" is from
menopause
"the final cessation of the monthly courses of women," 1852 (from 1845 as a French word in English), from French ménopause, from medical Latin menopausis, from Greek mēn (genitive mēnos) "month" (from PIE *mehnes- "moon, month," from root *me- (2) "to measure," via the notion of

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