English
reserve
Reserve comes from Old French reserver, from Latin reservō ‘to keep back, reserve’, from re- ‘back’ + servō ‘to keep’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEservō‘to keep, protect’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEreservō‘to reserve, keep back’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400reserver
- Englishearliest quotation 1973reserve
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEservō‘to keep, protect’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEreservō‘to reserve, keep back’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400reserver
- Englishearliest quotation 1973reserve
Earliest quotation: 1973, Charles Kyrle Wilkinson, Nishapur: Pottery of the Early Islamic Period: “Each is decorated with a simple disk in reserve…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ser- ‘to guard, take care’
sort, series, hero, stream, desert, insert, assertion, sermon, exert, concierge, sorcery, sorcerer, heresy, sark, assertive, heretic, strudel, sere, 32 more
through Old Latin servos
through Latin servus ‘a slave’
service, servitude, serf, servile, 8 more
through Latin servō ‘save’
conservative, observe, conservatism, conserve, observant, conservator, 4 more
Today it means
noun The act of reserving or keeping back; reservation; exception.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin servō / reserve