Etymology The heraldic sense “leaping” and the sense “projecting outward” are borrowed from Latin salientem, the accusative form of saliēns (“springing, leaping”) (whence -ent), present participle of saliō (“leap, spring”, verb). The senses “prominent” and “pertinent” are relatively recent, and derive from the phrase salient point, which is a calque of the Latin punctum saliēns, a translation of Aristotle's term for the embryonal heart visible in (opened) eggs, which he thought seemed to move already. Compare also the German calque der springende Punkt.
The article is not exhaustive, but it covers the salient points pretty well.
With nearer approach these fragmentary sounds became pieced together, and were found to be the salient points of the tune called "Nancy's Fancy."1878 January–December, Thomas Hardy, chapter V, in The Return of the Native […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], published 1878, →OCLC:
1 more example
The last salient point in which the systems of these creatures differed from ours was in what one might have thought a very trivial particular.1895–1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter II, in The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, published 1898, →OCLC, (please specify the page number(s)):
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Prominent; conspicuous.
Warning me that many of the street signs were down, the youth drew for my benefit a rough but ample and painstaking sketch map of the town's salient features.1936, H.P. Lovecraft, The Shadow Over Innsmouth:
He [Grenville] had neither salient traits, nor general comprehensiveness of mind.1834, George Bancroft, History of the United States of America, from the discovery of the American continent:
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Professionally published dictionaries do not seem to have extended coverage beyond the most frequent and salient items.2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide, page 2:
Russian forces likely accumulated a large amount of equipment for such mechanized assaults, but significant medium- to long-term constraints on Russian armored vehicle stocks will become more salient as losses grow and may force the Russian military command to rethink the benefit of continuing such intensified mechanized activity in Ukraine.2024 October 3, Riley Bailey, Angelica Evans, Grace Mappes, Davit Gasparyan, Nate Trotter, Frederick W. Kagan, “Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, October 3, 2024”, in Ukraine Project, Institute for the Study of War:
frogs and salient animals1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:
He had in himſelf a ſalient, living ſpring of generous and manly action.1796, Edmund Burke, A Letter from the Right Honourable Edmund Burke to a Noble Lord, on the Attacks Made upon Him and His Pension, […], London: […] J. Owen, […], and F[rancis] and C[harles] Rivington, […], →OCLC, page 50:
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Geometry, Mathematics, Sciences Denoting any angle less than two right angles.
Etymology The heraldic sense “leaping” and the sense “projecting outward” are borrowed from Latin salientem, the accusative form of saliēns (“springing, leaping”) (whence -ent), present participle of saliō (“leap, spring”, verb). The senses “prominent” and “pertinent” are relatively recent, and derive from the phrase salient point, which is a calque of the Latin punctum saliēns, a translation of Aristotle's term for the embryonal heart visible in (opened) eggs, which he thought seemed to move already. Compare also the German calque der springende Punkt.
1
Government, Military, Politics, War An outwardly projecting part of a fortification, trench system, or line of defense.
On April 26 the First Division had gone into the line in the Montdidier salient on the Picardy battlefront.1919, “General Pershing's Story”, in Americans Defending Democracy: Our Soldiers' Own Stories, World's War Stories, Inc., page 9:
The battlefronts were often no more than a few hundred yards wide, and the salients never more than a few miles deep.1978, Jan Morris, chapter 9, in Farewell the Trumpets, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, page 193:
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Geography, Natural sciences A protrusion of the administrative borders of a geopolitical entity, such as a subnational entity or a sovereign state into another geopolitical entity, generally of the same administrative level.
3
Geography, Geology, Natural sciences An overall-convex, protruding section of a sinuous fold and thrust belt, thrust sheet, or a single thrust fault, caused by one or more of: deformation (folding and faulting) of strata and geologic structures during orogenesis, differences in the angle of critical taper during orogenesis, or differing erosional level of the present geomorphological surface.
Orogenic arcs are made up by more advanced segments (salients) separated by less advanced zones (recesses) (Miser, 1932). Within salients, the critical taper is lower, the distance among thrust ramps is larger, and there may be more ramps departing from the basal décollement layer with respect to the recess areas.2018 April 17, Michele Livani, Davide Scrocca, Paola Arecco, Carlo Doglioni, “Structural and Stratigraphic Control on Salient and Recess Development Along a Thrust Belt Front: The Northern Apennines (Po Plain, Italy)”, in Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, volume 123, number 5, →DOI, pages 4360-4387: