salvar

Forms

salvar (first-person singular present salvo, first-person singular preterite salví, past participle salvat)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Catalan salvar, which is inherited from Late Latin salvō (“to save”), a verb formed on Latin salvus (“safe, unharmed, whole”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]}

The same Late Latin verb is Occitan salvar, French sauver, Italian salvare, Spanish salvar and Portuguese salvar.^[6] The Church's Latin gave the adjective the sense “saved, blessed”, and the derived noun for the Saviour translated Ancient Greek σωτήρ (sōtḗr).^[7][6]

De Vaan derives the adjective from Proto-Italic *salu- (“whole, healthy”), from Proto-Indo-European *slH-u- (“whole”); salūs (“health, safety”) is of the same root.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Homilies d'Organyà, of about 1200: Nostre Séiner grans penas soferí per nós, per aizò qar él nos volg salvar e trer de poder de Diable “Our Lord suffered great pains for us, because he wished to save us and take us out of the Devil's power”.^[2][9] The first sense is the religious one, to save from damnation.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Llull uses the verb both for saving from danger or bodily death and for eternal salvation.^[10] A medieval cookery book has it for preserving meat or fish in jelly.^[11] The DCVB adds to keep unaltered, to store in a safe place, to exclude from a general rule or agreement, and to get over an obstacle or avoid a difficulty.^[3]

The dictionary of Esteve, Bellvitges and Juglà (1803–1805) gives a notarial sense: to note at the end of a document the corrections made in it, so that they are valid;^[12][13] Labèrnia repeats it.^[12][13] Escrig's Valencian dictionary of 1851 adds salvar els danys “to make good the damage”.^[14] Of the derivatives, salvament is as old as the Homilies, and salvació and salvador, from Late Latin, are in Llull.^[4]

Timeline

• about 1200 – the Homilies d'Organyà: él nos volg salvar.^[2][9]
• 13th century, second half – Llull, in the Llibre de contemplació, on God's power to save whom he will.^[10]
• 1440 – Curial e Güelfa: Ell vos faça salvar l anima!^[11]
• 1803 – Esteve, Bellvitges and Juglà record the notarial sense.^[12]
• 1851 – Escrig gives salvar els danys.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To save, rescue: to keep someone or something from death, destruction, ruin or harm: Els bombers van salvar tota la família.^[15][5][1]
2. (pronominal) salvar-se: to escape, to survive a danger.^[15]
3. (theology) To save from eternal damnation;^[1] salvar-se to attain salvation.^[15][1][3]
4. To keep intact, to preserve; to put in a safe place.^[3]
5. To get over an obstacle; to avoid a difficulty or risk.^[3][16]
6. To except, to leave out of a general rule or agreement.^[3]

Word family

• salvable
• insalvable
• salvament
• salvavides

Related words

• salvador
• salvació
• salut
• Latin salvus
• Spanish salvar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 7, 633
3. ^ a b c d e f Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. salvar
4. ^ a b Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 823
5. ^ a b Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. salvar
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7557
7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. salvar
10. ^ a b Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. salvar
11. ^ a b Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. salvar
12. ^ a b c Esteve, Joaquim; Bellvitges, Josep; Juglà, Antoni (1803–1805), Diccionario catalán-castellano-latino, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. salvar
13. ^ a b Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. salvar
14. ^ a b Escrig, José (1851), Diccionario valenciano-castellano, Valencia, p. s.v. salvar
15. ^ a b c Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. salvar
16. ^ Una Societat de Catalans (1839), Diccionari catalá-castellá-llatí-frances-italiá, 2 vols., Barcelona: Joseph Torner, p. s.v. salvar