> Personally, I've been puzzled by toponyms in *hal- and places of salt
> extraction: Bad Hallein at Salzburg, Halle on the Saale River.
> Torsten
===
Interesting,
If one accepts the idea that *sal "salt" is from *zah-l "sea"
normally *z should be one form of PIE *H2,
Then hal from *zahl is an archaism : H2 not lost altogether.
What does Saale (River) stem from ?
Itself a variant of *zahl ?
Do you a map of salt-extraction places sounding hal/sal ?
Arnaud