Ancient Romans believed sneezing could accidentally eject the soul from the body.

In Roman culture, the concept of 'anima' or 'spiritus' linked the physical act of breathing directly to the soul. This belief was deeply rooted in the medical and philosophical traditions of the time, where the soul was thought to reside in the head or the chest. A sudden, violent expulsion of air like a sneeze was perceived as a moment of extreme vulnerability where the life force could be lost.The Latin greeting 'Salve' served as a verbal shield against these spiritual risks. This practice is documented in the writings of Pliny the Elder, a Roman author and naturalist who lived from 23 to 79 AD. In his encyclopedic work 'Natural History', Pliny discusses why people say 'salve' to those who sneeze, noting it as a common social custom intended to preserve health and spiritual integrity.This Roman tradition contributed significantly to the evolution of modern responses like 'God bless you' or 'Gesundheit'. During the Plague of Justinian in the 6th century, Pope Gregory I even ordered people to pray for those who sneezed, as sneezing was often an early symptom of the disease. By combining Roman superstition with Christian prayer, the act of blessing a sneezer became a permanent fixture in Western etiquette.Modern science explains sneezing as a sternutatory reflex triggered by the trigeminal nerve to clear the nasal cavity of irritants. While we now know the heart does not actually stop and the soul remains secure, the ancient Roman fear of spiritual displacement remains embedded in our daily language. These historical linguistic fossils show how ancient biology and theology shaped the social manners we use today.