souse: [14] To souse something is etymologically to steep it in ‘salt’. The word comes via Old French sous from Old Saxon sultia or Old High German sulza ‘brine’, descendants of the prehistoric Germanic base *salt-, *sult- (from which English gets salt). The notion of pickling something in brine soon broadened out to pickling in other liquids, such as vinegar, and by the 16th century souse was being used metaphorically for ‘drench’. => salt
souse (v.)
late 14c., "to pickle, steep in vinegar," from Old French sous (adj.) "preserved in salt and vinegar," from Frankish *sultja or some other Germanic source (compare Old Saxon sultia "salt water," Old High German sulza "brine"), from Proto-Germanic *salt- (see salt (n.)). Related: Soused; sousing.
souse (n.)
something steeped in pickle, especially "pig parts preserved and pickled," mid-15c., earlier "liquid for pickling" (late 14c.), from souse (v.) or from its French source.