English
reservoir
Reservoir comes from French réservoir ‘collection place’, from réserver ‘to reserve, keep’, and ultimately from Proto-Italic *serwos ‘guardian?’.
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*serwos‘guardian?’reconstructed
- Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEservos
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEservus‘a slave’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEservō‘save’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEreservōas reservāre‘to reserve, retain, save’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentréserver‘to reserve, keep’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentréservoir‘collection place’
- Englishearliest quotation 1842reservoir
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*serwos‘guardian?’reconstructed
- Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEservos
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEservus‘a slave’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEservō‘save’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEreservōas reservāre‘to reserve, retain, save’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentréserver‘to reserve, keep’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentréservoir‘collection place’
- Englishearliest quotation 1842reservoir
Earliest quotation: 1842, anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizab, Keeping up Appearances. […]: “Notwithstanding the way in which she had, in what…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ser- ‘to guard, take care’
sort, series, hero, stream, desert, insert, assertion, sermon, exert, concierge, sorcery, assertive, sorcerer, heresy, sark, heretic, strudel, sere, 31 more
through Old Latin servos
through Latin servus ‘a slave’
service, serve, servitude, serf, servile, 7 more
through Latin servō ‘save’
conservative, observe, conservatism, conserve, observant, conservator, 4 more
Today it means
noun A place where anything is kept in store.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Italic *serwos / reservoir