Where does “serves” come from?

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

Ancestry of “serves”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Englishsyrfeservice tree (Sorbus torminalis)
2Vulgar Latinsorbea—
3Latinsorbussorb; service tree; "Sorbus domestica"
4Indo-European*ser-—

Words derived from “serves”

Every word from Indo-European *ser- →Every word from Latin sorbus →Every word from Vulgar Latin sorbea →
serves — Etymology, Origin & Word History | Etymology Explorer