Originally a military term for a soldier's rations or pay, this word carries both literal and theological weight in the New Testament. John the Baptist tells soldiers to 'be content with your wages' (Luke 3:14), and Paul asks 'Who serves as a soldier at his own expense?' (1 Cor 9:7). The theological apex is Rom 6:23: 'the wages of sin is death'—where the metaphor transforms a soldier's earned pay into sin's inescapable consequence. Paul also uses it literally when he 'robbed other churches, receiving wages' for ministry (2 Cor 11:8). Spanish distinguishes 'paga' and 'salario,' while French 'solde' preserves the military etymology.