Etymograph

English

savage

Savage comes from Old French sauvage ‘wild, untamed’, and goes back to Latin silva ‘forest’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsilva‘forest’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsilvāticus‘wild’literally ‘of the woods’
  3. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEsalvāticusalteration of silvāticus
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400sauvage‘wild, untamed’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500savage‘savage, barbaric, unmannered, primitive’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1692–1717same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsilva‘forest’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsilvāticus‘wild’literally ‘of the woods’
  3. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEsalvāticusalteration of silvāticus
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400sauvage‘wild, untamed’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500savage‘savage, barbaric, unmannered, primitive’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1692–1717same form

Earliest quotation: 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions: “Its bloodhounds, savaged by a cross of wolf.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *sel- ‘jump, spring’

result, sale, insult, exile, salmon, sally, salon, resilient, sill, salle, salient, slink, somersault, salacious, seel, selly, 18 more

through Latin silva ‘forest’

silva, sylvan, selva, 6 more

through Late Latin salvāticus

salvage, 1 more

Today it means

adj Wild; not cultivated or tamed.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin silva / savage

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