English
safe
Safe comes from Middle English sauf, from Old French sauf, from Latin salvus ‘whole’, ultimately from PIE *solh₂- ‘whole’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*solh₂-‘whole’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*salawos‘whole’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsalvus‘whole’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400sauf
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sauf‘Unaffected by or safe from injury’
- Englishearliest quotation 1883safe
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*solh₂-‘whole’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*salawos‘whole’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsalvus‘whole’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400sauf
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sauf‘Unaffected by or safe from injury’
- Englishearliest quotation 1883safe
Earliest quotation: 1883, Emma Raymond Pitman, Florence Godfrey's Faith: A Story of Australian Life: “[…] so if you think he is at the…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *solh₂- ‘whole, every’
sold, solid, holocaust, sol, salute, xu, sou, salutation, salutary, salubrious, 30 more
through Latin salvus ‘whole, safe’
save, salvation, sage, salvage, savior, salvo, salve, salvia, 8 more
Today it means
adj Not in danger; out of harm's reach.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *solh₂- / safe