Etymologically
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reserve

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /rɪˈzɜːv/, US /rɪˈzɝːv/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English reserven,[2][3] borrowed from Old French reserver (“to set aside, withhold”) (12th century),[4][2] and directly from Latin reservāre (“to keep back, save up”),[4][2] from re- “back” and servare “to keep, save, protect”,[4][2][5] from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to protect”).[4] The noun is from French réserve,[2][3] or from the English verb.[4][6] It is related to conserve and preserve.[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

“To keep for future use; to store up”: 1340 in the OED,[8] the mid-14th century in Etymonline.[4] Barnhart has 1357, in the sense “to retain (jurisdiction)”.[2]

Semantic evolution

To keep back for a later time is from 1382,[8] and to keep as one's own from the late 14th century.[4] The noun meant a storage place in 1644 and something stored up before 1658;[2][8] Etymonline dates “something stored up” to the 1610s.[4] Troops withheld from action for later use are from 1648,[8][2] and the national reserve forces from 1866.[4][8] Self-restraint, a habit of keeping back one's feelings, is from the 1650s,[4] 1655 in Barnhart.[2] The adjective, kept in reserve, is from 1719.[4][2] A district set apart for a purpose, as a nature reserve, is from 1805;[4] capital kept on hand by a bank is from 1866,[4][8] and known amounts of oil or minerals from 1912.[4][8] In sport, a substitute player is from 1900.[8] “To book”, as a seat or table, is from 1935.[4] Reservation, from 1377, gained the sense of land set aside for an American Indian people later.[2]

Timeline

  • 1340 – verb, to keep for future use.[8]
  • 1644 – noun, a storage place.[2]
  • 1648 – reserve troops.[8][2]
  • 1655 – self-restraint.[2]
  • 1719 – adjective.[4][2]
  • 1805 – a district set apart.[4]
  • 1866 – a bank's reserve; reserve forces.[4][8]
  • 1900 – a substitute player.[8]
  • 1912 – reserves of oil or minerals.[4][8]
  • 1935 – to book.[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To keep back for future use or a special purpose.
  2. To set apart for a particular person; to book: reserve a table.
  3. To keep for oneself; to retain: reserve the right to refuse.
  4. To put off (a decision, as a judgment) to a later time.

Noun

  1. Something kept back for future use: reserves of food.
  2. Self-restraint in speech or manner; reticence.
  3. Capital held back by a bank or business to meet expected demands.
  4. A part of the armed forces kept for emergencies, or troops held back from action.
  5. An area of land set apart for a purpose: a nature reserve.
  6. In sport, a substitute player.

Adjective

  1. Held in reserve: a reserve supply.

Word family

  • reservable
  • reserver
  • unreserve
  • reserve bank
  • reserve buoyancy
  • gold reserve
  • reservist
  • reservation
  • reservoir
  • reserved
  • conserve
  • preserve
  • observe

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press