English
conservation
Conservation comes from Old French; Wiktionary does not name the Old French form.
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English conservation
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1913, Robert Barr: “My father had ideas about conservation long before the…”.
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400form not namedWiktionary, English conservation
- Englishearliest quotation 1913conservationWiktionary, English conservation. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1913, Robert Barr: “My father had ideas about conservation long before the…”
Equivalent to conserve + -ation
Proto-Italic *serwos ‘guardian?’
…
Latin servo ‘keep watch, maintain’
Latin conservare ‘to keep, preserve’
Old French conserver ‘to keep’
Middle English conserven
English conserve
Today it means
noun The act of preserving, guarding, or protecting; the keeping (of a thing) in a safe or entire state; preservation.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / conservation