article of food consisting of chopped or minced meat, seasoned and stuffed into the cleaned gut of an ox, sheep, or pig, and tied at regular intervals, mid-15c., sawsyge, sausige, from Old North French saussiche (Old French saussice, Modern French saucisse), from Vulgar Latin *salsica "sausage," from salsicus "seasoned with salt," from Latin salsus "salted," from past participle of Old Latin sallere "to salt," from sal (genitive salis) "salt" (from PIE root *sal- "salt").

Sawsidge, A Pudding made of Capons guts, Porke, and Spice, &c. [Cockeram, English Dictionarie, 1623]

In 16c.-17c. also sawsage, sassage; Dickens has the latter as a colloquial pronunciation in 1837. Sausage factory in the literal sense is attested by 1831; as figurative of something the less known about the better, by 1975. Sausage fest/party, "event with an overabundance of males" is by 2001.

"hot dog," 1894, American English, from German Frankfurter (wurst) "(sausage) of Frankfurt," so called because the U.S. product resembled a type of smoked-beef-and-pork sausage originally made in Germany, where it was associated with the city of Frankfurt am Main (literally "ford of the Franks" on the River Main). Attested from 1877 as Frankfort sausage.

"spiced pork sausage," 1846, from Spanish chorizo, ultimately from Medieval Latin salsicia "sausage" from Latin salsicus "seasoned with salt" (see sausage).

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "salt."

It forms all or part of: hali-; halide; halieutic; halite; halo-; halogen; sal; salad; salami; salary; saline; salmagundi; salsa; salsify; salt; salt-cellar; saltpeter; sauce; sausage; silt; souse.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Greek hals "salt, sea;" Latin sal, Old Church Slavonic soli, Old Irish salann, Welsh halen, Old English sealt, German Salz "salt."

"poisoning caused by eating imperfectly preserved food," 1878, from German Botulismus (1878), coined in German from Medieval Latin botulus "sausage" (see bowel) + -ismus suffix of action or state (see -ism). The sickness first was traced to eating tainted sausage (sausage poisoning was an old name for it).

city in north-central Italy, famous during the Middle Ages for its university, 16c. for its painters, from Latin Bononia, which represents either Gaulish bona "foundation, fortress," or Boii, the name of the Gaulish people who occupied the region 4c. B.C.E. As a large type of sausage first made there, 1850, from bologna sausage (1590s). Also see baloney.

"frankfurter," 1906, with slang sense of "penis" following soon after, from German wienerwurst "Vienna sausage" (see wiener). Meaning "ineffectual person, effeminate young man" is slang from 1963; pejorative sense via penis shape, or perhaps from weenie in the sense of "small" (see wee).

1951, from Polish kiełbasa "sausage" (cognate with Russian kolbasa, Serbo-Croatian kobasica); perhaps from Turkish kulbasti, "grilled cutlet," literally "pressed on the ashes." Or perhaps, via Jewish butchers, from Hebrew kolbasar "all kinds of meat."

type of sausage, c. 1600, from French andoille "sausage" (12c.), from Latin inductilia, neuter plural of inductilis, from inducere "to load or put in" (see induct). The original notion was perhaps of the filling "introduced" into the sausage.

also liver-wurst, 1852, partial translation of German Leberwurst "liver-sausage," from Leber "liver" (see liver (n.1)) + Wurst "sausage" (see wurst).