Where does “savage” come from?
Savage comes from Middle English savage, from Old French salvage and sauvage, from Latin silvaticus meaning "of the forest," formed with the suffix -icus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European -kos.
savage (English): Wild; not cultivated; Barbaric; not civilized;...
Definitions
- Wild; not cultivated; Barbaric; not civilized;...
Ancestry of “savage”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | savage | savage, barbaric, unmannered, primitive; wild,... |
| 2 | Old French | sauvage | wild; untamed |
| 3 | Vulgar Latin | salvaticus | — |
| 4 | Latin | silvāticus | of the woods, sylvan |
| 5 | Latin | -aticus | Used to form adjectives indicating a relation to... |
| 6 | Latin | -ātus | ed |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -ātos | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -éh₂tos | Forms adjectives from nouns, indicating the possession of a thing or a quality |