Where does “serve” come from?

serve (Middle English) comes from Old English syrfe, from Vulgar Latin sorbea, from Latin sorbus, from Indo-European *ser-.

serve (Middle English): sorb apple, serviceberry

Definitions

  1. sorb apple, serviceberry

Ancestry of “serve”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Englishsyrfeservice tree (Sorbus torminalis)
2Vulgar Latinsorbea—
3Latinsorbussorb; service tree; "Sorbus domestica"
4Indo-European*ser-—
Every word from Indo-European *ser- →Every word from Latin sorbus →Every word from Vulgar Latin sorbea →