salvage

salvage · noun, verb¹

1. Latin · derived fromsalvus“safe”
2. Late Latin · derived fromsalvare“to make safe, secure, save”
3. Old French · derived fromsalver
4. English todaysalvage

From Old French salver (see also save, from a variant form), from Late Latin salvare (“to make safe, secure, save”), from Latin salvus (“safe”) with the English suffix -age.

salvage · noun²

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

salvage · noun, verb³

1. Latin · derived fromsilvāticus“wild”
2. Late Latin · derived from*salvāticus
3. Catalan · derived fromsalvatge
4. Spanish · borrowed fromsalvaje
5. English todaysalvage

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”).

Salvage · proper noun⁴

1. Spanish · borrowed fromsalvaje“savage, uncivilised”
2. English todaySalvage

Borrowed from Spanish salvaje (“savage, uncivilised”). The name likely derives from an encounter between the Spanish and the local indigenous population.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• 16th–19th c. Obsolete spelling of savage.