saltcellar vs. cellar

[bbeeton]

What, if anything, does the "cellar" in "saltcellar" have to do with the "cellar" as basement or wine (or root, or storm) cellar? In the latter sense, "cellar" also functions as a verb, denoting the activity of storing something, perhaps for aging, in that underground area.

[brogine]

Sez the OED:

‘Cellar’ is a corruption of ‘saler,’ an obsolete word for none other than ‘salt cellar.’ That being a borrowing from the French ‘salière,’ that going right back - as you’ve now guessed - to the Latin for ‘salt.’

P.S. As is probably unnecessary to point out, the French word is formed with application of a familiar suffix. Bakery, boulangerie, panadería,
et cetera and how.

P.P.S. As to the more common meaning of ‘cellar,’ its origin is from another quarter altogether, related to ‘cell.’