Etymograph

English

savour

Savour comes from Latin sapor ‘a taste, flavor, savor’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *seh₁p-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seh₁p-‘to taste’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsapiō‘to taste of (something)’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsapor‘a taste, flavor, savor’
  4. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400saveur
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500savour
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1530same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seh₁p-‘to taste’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsapiō‘to taste of (something)’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsapor‘a taste, flavor, savor’
  4. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400saveur
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500savour
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1530same form

Earliest quotation: 1530, W[illiam] T[yndale]: “And Noe [Noah] made an aulter vnto the LORDE⸝…”

Linked words

through Latin sapiō ‘to taste of (something)’

sage, savvy, sapiens, insipid, savory, savant, sapient, sabe, 13 more

Another origin of savour

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sep-‘to taste, to try out’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sapjō‘to taste’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsapiō‘taste of, have a flavor of’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsapor‘a taste, flavor, savor’
  5. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEsapōrō‘to give flavour, make tasty’
  6. Late Latin, derivedc. 200–600 CEsapōrārepresent active infinitive of sapōrō
  7. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400savorer
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500savouren
  9. Englishtodaysavour

Today it means

noun An aroma or smell.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *seh₁p- / savour

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