English
Serb
Serb comes from Proto-Slavic *sьrbъ ‘ally, Serb, Sorb’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ser- ‘to protect, watch over’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ser-‘to protect, watch over’reconstructed
- Proto-Slavicc. 400–900 CE*sьrbъ‘ally, Serb, Sorb’reconstructed
- Serbo-CroatianmodernСрби//Srbi
- Englishearliest quotation 1990Serb
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ser-‘to protect, watch over’reconstructed
- Proto-Slavicc. 400–900 CE*sьrbъ‘ally, Serb, Sorb’reconstructed
- Serbo-CroatianmodernСрби//Srbi
- Englishearliest quotation 1990Serb
Earliest quotation: 1990, Kenneth C. Danforth, Yugoslavia: A House Much Divided: “No one knows where Serbian Prince Lazar fell, but…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ser- ‘to protect, watch over’
sort, service, series, stream, hero, conservative, serve, desert, reservoir, insert, assertion, conservatism, heresy, exert, sermon, concierge, sorcery, sorcerer, assertive, heretic, sark, observant, servitude, strudel, conservator, servile, serf, sere, 34 more
Today it means
noun A person of Serb descent (not necessarily from Serbia). (Compare Serbian.)
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ser- / Serb