English
salvage
Salvage comes from Late Latin salvare ‘to make safe, secure, save’, from Proto-Italic *salawos ‘whole’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *solh₂-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*solh₂-‘whole’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*salawos‘whole’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsalvus‘safe’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEsalvare‘to make safe, secure, save’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400salver
- Englishearliest quotation 1943salvage
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‘safe’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEsalvare‘to make safe, secure, save’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400salver
- Englishearliest quotation 1943salvage
Earliest quotation: 1943, and April, A British Avalanche Shelter: “[...] the debris was hurled down the hillside on…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *solh₂- ‘whole’
sold, solid, holocaust, sol, xu, salute, sou, salutation, salutary, salubrious, 30 more
through Proto-Italic *salawos ‘whole’
through Latin salvus ‘safe’
safe, savior, sage, salve, salvia, 9 more
through Late Latin salvare ‘to make safe, secure, save’
Another origin of salvage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sel-‘jump, spring’uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsilva‘woods, forest’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsilvāticus‘wild’literally ‘of the woods’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CE*salvāticusreconstructedalteration of silvāticus
- Old Catalanmodernsalvatge
- Catalanc. 1500–presentsalvatge‘wild’
- Spanishc. 1500–presentsalvaje‘wild, savage’
- Englishtodaysalvage
Borrowed from Spanish salvaje, from Catalan salvatge, from Late Latin *salvāticus, alteration of Latin silvāticus (“wild”, literally “of the woods”). Confused false friends; English salvage and Tagalog salbahe (‘mischievous, naughty’).
Today it means
noun The rescue of a ship, its crew and passengers or its cargo from a hazardous situation.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *solh₂- / salvage