Soap is originally from the Proto Indo European root seib, which meant “pour, drip, trickle”. In Western Germanic this became saipo, and was used to refer to a reddish hair dye that was used by Germanic warriors to create a frightening appearance. This word was borrowed into Latin as sapo, used of the oils that were skin cleaning agents at the time. In Old English it was sape, which became soap by the middle ages. Modern soap, made from lye, animal fat, and various perfumes and oils, was invented by the people of Palestine and Iraq, and the recipe hasn’t changed much since the 7th century. Since lye (sodium hydroxide) is caustic, soapmaking was a dangerous process that could cause chemical burns or blindness.

The word soap indicates the focusing of strong, rounded, earthy energy on a particular point, and likely reflects the application of a liquid or pliable natural substance to the body.

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