The mountain was first attested in written sources circa 1370 as Saluatin. The name is of unclear origin. Based on the oldest transcriptions of the name, it can be derived from *Salbotin, based on the Latin personal name Salvus (literally, 'healthy'). Another possibility (assuming that the old transcriptions are wrong) is that the name was originally Sabotin, based on the Italian name Sàb(b)ato, originally given to a child born on a Saturday. A third possibility is that it is derived from *San Valentin (there is a church dedicated to Saint Valentine on the mountain) through a number of unexpected phonological changes.